MANUAL 



7 / ^ 



AGEICIJLTURE, 



THE SCHOOL, THE FARM, 



THE FIRESIDE 



By GEORGE B?" EMERSON, 
Author of a "Report on the Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts," 

CHARLES L? FLINT, 

SECRETARY OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 

Author of a Treatise on " Milch Cows and Dairy Farming," and " Grasses and 
Forage Plants," etc., etc. 




BOSTON: 
SWAN, BREWER & TILESTON, 

131 Washington Street. 
1 8 G 2. 

[Published under the sanction of the State Board of Agricnlture.l 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, 

Bt George B. Emekson and Chakles L. Flint, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Distilct of Massachusetts. 



Xrv 



1^ 






PREFACE 



This book is intended to supply an important defect in the 
instruction of youth. Children should not only receive instruction 
in the various studies now pursued in the schools, but they 
should be enabled to obtain the rudiments of a correct agricultural 
education in the forming period of life. Many of them are 
destined to work upon the surface of the earth, and to use the 
materials of which it is formed. They are to cooperate with 
the great powers of nature and to be able, in many instances, 
to control these powers. They instinctively long to become 
acquainted with the materials they are to work upon, and the 
powers they are to work with. An agricultural education 
should, therefore, be commenced in childhood. 

Children are always interested in animals and other natural 
objects. There is scarcely a fact exhibited in nature which does 
not, at once, interest their curiosity and appeal to their imagi- 
nation. They should, therefore, learn about the earth, the 
different kinds of soil, the names of the different kinds of rocks 
and their uses. Tell children that, in the soil, the roots of the 
grasses dissolve the stones, and carry particles of- them up and 
leave them, infinitely minute but infinitely numerous, in the stem 
and leaves, and that these particles make the grass strong enough 
to stand up, and they will be interested in the information. 



IV PREFACE. 

Children should learn the appearance and properties of every 
common metal ; for there is no person to whom the knowledge 
would, in any part of life, be useless. 

There are seventeen, perhaps nineteen, elementary substances 
in all, which enter into the composition of plants and animals. 
These, combined, form the numberless objects which are exliibited 
by the vegetable and animal kingdom, and children should be 
taught the nature, properties and uses of these elements. 

We live surrounded by the air, which is composed of two invis- 
ible gases, oxygen and nitrogen, both essential to the life of 
every animal and of every plant. Children do not see air, nor 
oxygen, nor nitrogen ; but they are just as able to understand 
this mixture, both ingredients of which are invisible, as they are 
to understand, what they often see, that salt becomes invisible in 
water, and steam and smoke in the air. Show them a piece 
of clean, bright iron, and another of rusty iron, and explain to 
them that it is the oxygen of the air which has combined with 
the iron, and converted it into rust or dirt, and they will be 
prepared to comprehend all that you have to teach them about 
the combinations of oxygen and other elements with each other. 

Plants feed on carbonic acid and ammonia. When children 
understand what these are, there is nothing you can tell them more 
curious and wonderful than the fact, that the wind which blows 
from the habitations of men carries with it these gases, offensive 
and poisonous to animals, but that rain dissolves and brings them 
down to the roots, and that plants hve upon them. 

All these facts are perfectly intelligible to children at an age 
as early as that at which they are capable of learning grammar 
and geography. Every fact to be presented is a simple fact. 
There is scarcely one in natural history, or in the sciences on 



PREFACE. V 

which the knowledge of the principles of agriculture is founded, 
which is not as easily comprehended as any of the ideas of 
history. Which, for example, is easier for a child to comprehend, 
oxygen and its action, or civil government, nitrogen or confed- 
eration, carbon or a league, phosphorus or the reformation? 
Which will a child be most likely to understand and be 
interested in, the little root and seed leaves of a plant just 
up, and the future plant rising between them, or a convocation 
of ambassadors to consider the Edict of Nantes, or a plenipo- 
tentiary to protest against the Solemn League and Covenant ? 

So far is a knowledge of the powers which are in operation in 
nature, the action of heat and light, and the causes of wind 
and rain, with their effects upon the vegetable kingdom, from 
being dijQ&cult, it is that which every sensible child instinctively 
longs for and delights in ; and as to its being speculative, it is the 
only knowledge which is absolutely sure to be useful to every 
person who obtains it. 

An essential part of good education is admitted to be the dis- 
cipline of the faculties. The faculties which come earliest into 
play, are suited to observe and learn the facts presented in 
nature. These facts and objects are, therefore, the proper, 
natural study of the earliest years of children. 

We would, therefore, gladly make a knowledge of the 
principles which underlie an intelhgent understanding of the 
art of agriculture, the basis of education, especially for all those 
who are destined to the happy fortunes of living in the country. 
And who is there, that has ever lived in the country, who does 
not hope, some day or other, to live on his own farm or among 
the farms of his friends, in the midst of the things which God has 
made? 

1* 



VI PREFACE. 

The State Board of Agriculture, strongly impressed with the 
importance of these views, has caused this volume to be prepared 
as a text-book for schools, with the hope that it may do some- 
thing to lay the foundation of a complete agricultural education, 
where it may most effectually be done, in the district school. 

In the execution of the work, Mr. Emerson has prepared the 
first thirteen chapters and the twenty-first chapter, upon the 
Rotation of Crops, and Mr. FHnt the remainder, commencing 
with the fourteenth chapter. Many of the more important 
principles embraced in the topics discussed, have been repeated 
in various forms and in different connections, for the purpose 
of impressing them more strongly upon the mind, but it is 
confidently hoped that this fact will not make the volume 
unattractive to the general reader. 

The authors do not lay any claim to originality. They have 
availed themselves of the information of scientific and practical 
men, and have tried to state it in a concise and attractive form, so 
far as the subjects treated of seemed to make it practicable to 
do so. 

Boston, November, 1861. 



MANUAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 



1. Agriculture is the art of cultivating the earth. It 
includes whatever is necessary for finding out the nature 
of the soil, clearing up the land, rendering it healthy, 
and preparing it for tillage, and ploughing it, and the 
sowing, weeding and harvesting the crops. 

2. The object of agriculture should be to enrich the 
earth, and make it produce the largest crops, of the 
greatest value, at the least expense of land, time, and 
labor. 

8. In order to attain this object, the husbandman must 
have capital, — that is, money, for the necessary expen- 
ditures ; labor, or hands for the operations required ; 
knowledge of the best ways of working ; and mtelligence, 
in order to direct the application of the capital and 
labor. 

4. A complete farm ought to have woodland, pasture 
land, meadow or grass land, arable land, an orchard, a 
garden spot, and space for roads. 

It should have a farmer's house, a barn or stable for 
horses, oxen, sheep, and swine, and for crops, a tool- 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

house, a dairy, fences, walls or hedges, and wells or 
springs. 

It would be desirable to have a stream running through 
it or by it, and to have a pond or swamp connected with or 
belonging to it. 

5. A husbandman also wants capital to stock his farm 
with cattle and other animals, and to furnish it with 
carts, wagons, ploughs, and other tools. 

6. To carry on a farm successfully, a good deal of 
knowledge and a high degree of intelhgence are neces- 
sary, and these are to be obtained partly by study, and 
partly by practice. 

By study the farmer should find out — 1st, the nature 
and mode of growth of the plants and animals he is to 
have to do with ; and 2d, the nature and properties of 
the soil and of the atmosphere on and in which they live. 

Practice, or experience, is acquired by doing himself 
the work on a farm, under the guidance of a skilful 
farmer. By means of both study and experience, he 
may learn to avail himself of all the means of improving 
his farm which are in his reach, or which he can bring 
within his reach. 

7. The farmer, indeed, should have that exact knowl- 
edge of facts and principles, of effects and their causes, 
which is called Science. For example, if a farmer knows 
exactly what a plant is made of, and what nourishment 
it requires, and whether a particular soil contains the 
substances which will nourish that plant, and, if it do 
not, knows exactly what kind of manure does contain 
proper nourishment for the plant, that farmer has a 
scientific knowledge of the plant, of the soil, and of the 
manure. He has the science necessary to the culture 
of that plant. Science is exact knowledge, obtained by 



SCIENCE. — USE OF EDUCATION. 3 

the observation and experience of many observers, and 
its natural fruit is " the substitution of rational practice 
for unsound prejudice." 

8. You see then what is the use of a scientific knowl- 
edge of the principles of agriculture. It prepares a 
person for the practice of agriculture. A person who has 
thoroughly learned the scientific principles, will under- 
stand, without any difficulty, the reasons for the operations 
of agriculture. 

9. But science will not be sufficient without practice. 
Practice teaches a thousand things which have not got 
into the books. But a knowledge of scientific principles 
opens one's eyes to observe and see many facts which the 
more unenlightened laborer cannot see, and to perceive 
the connection between facts which to the ignorant person 
seem to have no connection. 

10. The farmer, therefore, should have a good educa- 
tion. For no one is more highly benefited by a good 
education. The farmer pursues one of the most impor- 
tant occupations in the world. Almost all the food of 
civilized man is produced on the farm. The quantity 
and excellence of the food thus produced depend upon 
the skill and intelligence with which the farm is managed. 
Nothing can be done so well by an ignorant and careless 
person, as by a person of intelligence and knowledge, 
and there is no place where knowledge is more impor- 
tant than it is on a farm. 

11. Of the value of exact knowledge to a farmer there 
is abundant evidence. Such progress has been made, 
within a few years past, in the various arts which belong 
to agriculture, that the produce from the farms in many 
parts of Europe, particularly of England, is twice as 
great, on the same land, and with the same amount of 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

labor, as it was thirty years ago. Now, tlie improvements 
which have been made on EngHsh farms may be made on 
American farms, by the use of the same means. 

12. Those means are the apphcation of science to the 
treatment of soils, manures, modes of tillage, and man- 
agement of animals ; and improvements in the various 
tools and machines used in the work of farming. And 
no person can wisely make this application, and avail 
himself fully of these improvements, who is not well 
educated. 

13. Besides, we have evidence nearer home of the 
value of knowledge to a farmer. The farms in New 
England, which have been conducted with intelligence, 
knowledge, forethought and economy, have, in many 
instances, made, out of poor men, men well to do in 
the world, and rich enough to command all the comforts 
and enjoyments of life. Many of the towns in Massa- 
chusetts which have been always wholly devoted to agri- 
culture, are among the most thriving towns in the State. 

14. But, the question will be asked, suppose a farmer 
to be well educated ; will he have time to keep up his 
knowledge ? 

If a farmer have the good fortune to obtain a good 
education in his early years, he will have more time and 
stronger inducements to keep up and add to his knowl- 
edge, than almost any one else. One peculiar advantage 
in the occupation of a farmer is that, while it gives full 
exercise to the powers of the body, it leaves time, at 
least in this country, for a very full exercise of the 
powers of the mind. Every operation on the farm calls 
into use the farmer's knowledge and intelligence ; and 
the long evenings of one half of the year give him 
ample time for reading and thought. Watching the 



SCIENCE. — USE OF EDUCATION. 6 

nature and action of scientific principles will give a new 
interest and pleasure to every operation in which the 
farmer engages ; and his success in their application will 
furnish a strong motive for new acquisitions. 

15. There is no doubt that men of science are liable 
to make mistakes, partly because their science is not 
thorough enough, and partly because very much of what 
is most important can be learned only by one's own 
observation. It is the union of science and practice 
which alone can make a perfect farmer. 

16. It is often supposed that the scientific principles 
necessary for intelligent farming are difficult to be under- 
stood. But this is very far from being the case. What 
chemistry teaches about air, water, arable soil, the nature 
of plants, manure, and what it is made of, is so easy to 
be understood, that every well-informed teacher may, in 
a dozen lessons, and with the simplest means of instruc- 
tion, impart to the commonest farmer's boy an accurate 
knowledge of it. 

17. The learning these things will make the difference 
between ignorance and knowledge, between seeming stu- 
pidity and real brightness. It will be a great benefit to the 
individual and to the country. The boy who has been 
tauglit in school on what the fertility of the soil depends, 
and the great danger of the land's being worn out in 
consequence of wasting the most valuable kinds of manure, 
and who has been told by his teacher that he who wastes 
the conditions of fertility is guilty of an offence against 
the poor, against himself, and against society, will cer- 
tainly, when he grows to man's estate, see how important 
it is that nothing essential to fertility shall be lost, and 
will take the greatest pains to save and to use every thing 
which is thus valuable. 



6 THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

18. What is chemistry ? It is the science which tells 
us what water, air, soil, and all other things are, what 
they are made of, and how the elements of which they 
are made act upon each other ; and a person who studies 
these thmgs, and makes experiments upon them, is called 
a chemist. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

19. The Air is that which we breathe, and by which 
we are constantly surrounded. It is very thin and light, 
and yet it has some little weight. We cannot see it, and 
yet it is always about us and touching us. The wind is 
air in motion. We feel the wind, and we may feel the 
still air when we move our hand rapidly in it ; and we 
also feel and hear it when we move a stick swiftly 
through it. 

If I fill a bladder with air, and press it, the bladder 
yields ; but as soon as the pressure is withdrawn, it swells 
out again to its former size. This is because the air is 
springy or elastic. It is essential to burning, or com- 
bustion. Without air, the candle would be extinguished, 
and the fire would go out. It is not less necessary to the 
life of man and other animals, and to plants. 

20. The air is composed of a thin fluid or gas, called 
oxygen^ (which means, producer of acids,) mixed with 
another air or gas called nitrogen^ (producer of nitre,) 
or azote ^ (not sustaining life.) The air also contains a 
gas called carbonic acid, a small but variable quantity of 



OXYGEN FOUND EVERYWHERE. 7 

watery vapor ^ and commonly has floating in it smoke and 
dust, and minute portions of various gases which serve as 
food to plants, the most important of which are ammonia 
and sulphuretted hydrogen. 

21. Oxygen is the Y\idl part of the air — that which 
is essential to our life, and also to combustion. It is 
invisible^ and has no taste or smell. Oxygen is thought 
to be a simple substance; that is, no person has ever 
succeeded in showing that it is a mixture or compound 
of any two substances. It is therefore called an Element, 
or elementary substance. 

It is one of the most abundant and widely diffused 
substances known. It forms eight parts out of nine, by 
weight, 'in the composition of water. It enters into the 
composition of nearly all the rocks and different kinds of 
earth, and is one of the constituents of all portions of the 
bodies of plants and animals. 

22. A considerable portion of every known rock is 
oxygen, combined with some other element. How it got 
into the rocks we do not know. Oxygen has a strong 
tendency to penetrate into every thing ; it has a great 
attraction for iron, copper, lead, and most of the other 
metals, and for nearly all the other substances of which 
earths are composed, and combines with them intimately, 
and completely changes their appearance and properties. 
Iron left for any time in moist air 7'usts, or is gradually 
covered with a dirty reddish substance, which we call 
rust, which is made up of oxygen and particles of the 
iron with which it has united. This the chemists call 
oxide of iron. The iron has been oxidized. 

This oxide of iron is often found in the earth in great 
quantities, forming a brownish, heavy dirt or earth ; some- 
times beautiful rocks or ores. Similar earths or minerals 

2 



8 THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

are formed by oxygen uniting with other metals. These 
compounds are called oxides. 

23. Oxygen was called a producer of acids, because it 
is an element of many of the most powerful acids ; and 
the name acid is given to several substances which are 
extremely sour and very corrosive, and produce the effect 
of turning vegetable blue colors red. 

24. Oxygen, for instance, unites with sulphur, or brim- 
stone, in two proportions. If there be sixteen parts by 
weight of sulphur to sixteen of oxygen, sulphurous acid 
is formed ; sixteen of sulphur to twenty-four of oxygen 
form sidphuric acid, commonly called oil of vitriol, a 
heavy liquid, looking like oil. 

25. Eight parts out of nine in the composition of water 
are oxygen ; the other part is hydrogen. 

26. Hydrogen (water producer) is an invisible air or 
gas, elastic, and without color, taste, or smell, and lighter 
than any other substance known. One hundred cubic 
inches of hydrogen weigh 2^q\ grains. 

27. Oxygen, which is a little heavier than common air, 
is sixteen times heavier than hydrogen. 

28. And common air is about 816 times lighter than 
pure water. 

29. Nitrogen is a gas which alone does not sustain 
combustion, nor the breathing or respiration of animals. 
A burning candle placed in a vessel full of it goes imme- 
diately out. An animal placed in it immediately dies. 
It is not supposed to be poisonous, but merely inert. It 
serves to temper the violent action of oxygen, which, 
without it, might consume the lungs which should breathe 
it. It enters as an essential element into the structure 
of animals and plants. It has neither color, taste, nor 
smell. 



NITROGEN, LAW OP DEFINITE PROPORTIONS. 9 

80. But it is only when alone, or when merely mixed 
with oxygen, as in conmion air, that it is so inert. In 
combination it always plays an active part. All sub- 
stances containing it have a tendency to be decomposed. 
Chemically, that is, intimately united with oxygen, it 
forms one of the most violent agents known. # 

31. Oxygen combines with nitrogen in five different, 
perfectly definite j)roportions, by weight, viz. : 

Protoxide (first oxide) of nitrogen is 14 parts of nitrogen with 8 of oxygen. 
Deutoxide (second oxide) " 14 " " " 16 " 

Tritoxide (third oxide) " 14 " " *' 24 " 

Peroxide (highest oxide) " 14 " " " 32 " 

Nitric acid, aquafortis, is 14 " " " 40 " 

It seems a very surprising and wonderful thing that 
these two gases should always unite in such exact pro- 
portions ; that 14 parts by weight of nitrogen should 
always unite with exactly 8, or twice 8, or three or four 
times or five times 8 parts of oxygen. Yet this is always 
the case. And not only do nitrogen and oxygen unite in 
this exact manner, by this precise law, but all the other 
elements unite with each other in perfectly definite, inva- 
riable proportions. How this happens no one knows. 
All we can say is, that the Creator has made things in 
this manner, so as to unite according to this law. And 
this is called the Law of Definite Proportions. For when 
things always happen exactly in one way, we say that 
they happen according to a laio of nature. It is incon- 
ceivable that they should always come so by accident. 

This law is universal. Oxygen always unites in the 
proportion, by weight, of 8, or some multiple of 8. Nitro- 
gen always in the proportion of 14 ; and every other 
element has its definite combining number. The com- 



10 THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

bining number for hydrogen is 1 ; for carbon, 6 ; for 
sulphur, 16 ; for h'on, 28. 

And it is found that 9 pounds of water consist of 8 
pounds of oxygen and 1 pound of hydrogen ; and that 
28 pounds of iron unite with 8 pounds of oxygen to form 
rust or oxide of iron. " Take, for example, 9 pounds of 
water, pass its steam over a known weight of pure iron 
turnings, heated red-hot in an earthen tube. No steam 
escapes from the tube, only air, which may be inflamed 
and burned. It is hydrogen gas, one of the constituents 
of water. That liquid has been decomposed. What has 
become of its oxygen ? It has united with and oxidated 
the iron. What proportion of the water did it form ? 
8-9ths." If the iron be weighed, it will be found 8 pounds 
heavier. Subtracting from the 9 pounds of water, 8 of 
oxygen, the balance, 1, is hydrogen.* 

If the experiment be very carefully conducted, it will 
be found that 28 pounds of iron have been converted into 
iron rust, and that all the rust formed by 8 pounds of 
oxygen weighs 36 pounds. 

The several elements, or simple, uncompounded sub- 
stances, are, for convenience, represented by the initial 
letters, and the proportions in which they unite by num- 
bers placed a little above them. Chemists suppose that 
it is only the least possible, indivisible particles of matter 
or atoms ^ that unite, and that the atoms combine, 1 with 
1, or 1 with 2, or with 3, or 2 with 3, and so on. 

Oxygen is represented by ; Hydrogen by H ; Nitro- 
gen by N ; Carbon by C ; Sulphur by S. HO is water, 
because one atom of hydrogen is supposed to unite 

* Dana's INIuck Manual, p. 44. Whoever wants to get a vast deal of knowl- 
edge upon the subject of fertilizers, philosophically stated, in a small compass, 
may consult this valuable volume. 



NITRIC ACID, CARBONIC ACID. 11 

with one of oxygen. N H^ or Am is ammonia, — three 
atoms of H and one atom of N. Carbonic acid is C 0^, 
that is, one atom of carbon with two of oxygen. N 
is protoxide of nitrogen, one atom of each element ; N 0^, 
N 0^, N 0\ N 0^, represent the successive oxides of 
Art. 31,* and nitric acid, in which one atom of nitrogen 
is supposed to be united with five of oxygen ; and if each 
atom of nitrogen weighs 14, each atom of oxygen must 
weigh 8, on the same scale. 

82. Nitric Acid, hke sulphuric acid, is so excessively cor- 
rosive as speedily to destroy almost any substance exposed 
to its action. It is a liquid, looking somewhat like water. 

A flash of lightning, in the air, often causes oxygen 
and nitrogen to combine, forming nitric acid, which is 
immediately dissolved by the rain, and is sometimes 
found in rain water. 

33. Carbonic Acid is the gas which rises, in the form 
of bubbles, in the fermentation of beer, or when you open 
a bottle of beer, or in the effervescence of cider or of 
wine. It is the gas which kills a person who remains too 
long in a close room where there is a pan of burning 
coals. It is formed by the combination of oxygen with 
carbon or charcoal. 

34. All kinds of wood and other vegetable substances 
are made up mostly of carbon or charcoal, united with 
water, or with oxygen and hydrogen, in nearly the same 
proportions in which they form water. When wood is 
kindled, it unites with the oxygen of the air. Burning 
or combustion is the uniting of a combustible substance 
with oxygen, accompanied with Hght and heat. 

35. The blaze or Flame is formed by the uniting of 
oxygen with a combustible gas. 

2* 



12 THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

36. The Light and Heat both come from the wood as it 
burns. While a tree is growing, it receives, from the 
sunshine, Hght and heat, and absorbs them, and lays them 
up in the wood. There they lie, as in a storehouse, till 
they are brought out by burning. 

37. Ammonia. Hydrogen combines with nitrogen to 
form ammonia, which is one of the essential articles in 
the food of plants. 

38. Wherever decay or decomposition of any animal 
substance, or almost any vegetable substance, takes place, 
there both these gases, hydrogen and nitrogen, are given 
out, and, at the very moment they leave the other sub- 
stances with which they have been combined, they unite 
and form ammonia, which rises and floats in the air, 
and is dissolved rapidly by the moisture in the air, and 
is then brought down to the earth in the rain. 

39. The little delicate roots absorb it from the earth, 
and it is carried into every part of the plant. Some 
power in the plant separates the two again, for both are 
always found in the growing parts ; and nitrogen and 
hydrogen are found in the seeds. 

40. Hydrogen unites also with sulphur, and forms a 
very offensive gas, called sulphuretted hydrogen ; and 
this also enters into the composition of plants, as a part 
of their food. 

41. In 100 pints of common air, perfectly dry and 
pure, there are about 21 of oxygen and 79 of nitrogen ; 
that is, not far from one-fifth of oxygen and four-fifths of 
nitrogen. In its co7nmon state, 100 pints of air contain 
from 1 to 21 pints of watery vapor; and 1,500 pints, 
contain 1 pint of carbonic acid. 

42. In breathing, the air enters into the lungs, and 
there the oxygen comes in contact with a portion of the 



PUEE AIR NECESSARY TO HEALTH. 13 

blood, and combines with it, much as oxygen combines 
with fuel in burning, and by this combustion sustains the 
animal heat, and keeps the body warm. When the air 
in the lungs is breathed out, it contains less oxygen than 
the air which had entered. In place of this oxygen 
which has staid in the body, a portion of carbonic acid is 
breathed out, which poisons, to a certain extent, the 
surrounding air. In this way the purity of the air would 
soon be destroyed, and it would be rendered unfit for 
breathing, if pure air were not brought in. 

The quantity of air thus rendered unfit for respiration 
is known, and we can calculate exactly the space and the 
number of cubic feet of air which ought to be provided 
in chambers for men, and in stables and other places for 
other animals, according to the number and size of the 
animals to be shut up in them. 

A Man needs from 200 to 350 cubic feet of pure air 
every hour. Supposing a person to require only 250 feet 
an hour, a close room of 10 feet in each dimension, 
having its air rendered more and more impure by his 
breathing it, will, in four hours, be foul and very unwhole- 
some, and wholly unfit to breathe. 

43. It is thus plain that every place occupied by a 
living being, particularly by night, ought to be ventilated. 
That is, it ought to have a communication, by means of 
a chimney flue, or in some other way, with the pure, 
open air. Neither the body nor the mind of a person 
who has to breathe, night after night, the close, foul air 
of an ill-ventilated room, can remain healthy. 

44. Plants do not breathe as animals do. But air is 
just as essential to them, penetrating freely into the 
tissues of their green portions, and there playing a part 



14 THE AIR AND THE GASES IN IT. 

necessary to their existence, and not wholly unlike animal 
respiration. 

45. By daylight, and especially in the sunshine, plants 
absorb carbonic acid, turn the carbon, and water, or the 
elements of water, into the substance of the wood, stem, 
leaves and the other solid parts, and throw back part 
of the oxygen into the air. Growing plants are thus 
continually acting to purify the atniosphere, by taking 
up the carbonic acid which is poured into it by com- 
bustion, by decay, and by the breath of animals, and 
giving back oxygen suitable for healthy respiration. 

We thus see the wise and beautiful Relation which has 
been established between animals and plants. The wind 
which blows from the habitations of men and animals 
carries foul air, no longer fit to be breathed, away to the 
woods and fields. There the plants extract from the air 
all that is poisonous ; and the wind which blows from the 
field and forest brings back only the pure and vital 
element of oxygen, mixed with harmless nitrogen. 

46. In the night time plants do not exercise this benefi- 
cent influence. On the contrary, they then exhale carbonic 
acid, at least in small quantities. It is this, perhaps, 
which renders it unsafe to have plants, especially when 
in flower, in a sleeping room. 

It would seem that wood or woody fibre is not formed 
during the night, but that the presence of the sun's light 
is essentially necessary to this action of the life of a plant. 

47. The oxides of the metals, and some other com- 
pounds, are bases; that is, they unite chemically with 
carbonic acid, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, and other acids, 
and form salts, called carbonates, sulphates, nitrates, and 
other ates. 



15 

They have been named Salts, from their resemblance 
to common table salt, though their properties are usually 
very different. 

48. Carbonic acid^ for example, intimately combined 
with lime, forms a salt called carbonate of lime, which 
is chalk or limestone. Sulphuric acid, combined with 
lime, forms sulphate of lime, or plaster of Paris. Nitric 
acid, chemically combined with potash, forms nitrate of 
potash, or saltpetre. All these are salts of great impor- 
tance in agriculture. 

49. Oxygen is also continually combining with wood 
and other vegetable sul3stances. The decay of the fallen 
leaves is produced by oxygen slowly combining with the 
carbon of the leaves. Moisture and warmth are favorable 
to this combination, or oxidation, and heat is always pro- 
duced by it. A heap of leaves, decaying, grows warm 
and continues warm till they are all turned into leaf 
mould, geine or humus. So the very gradual decay 
of trunks of old dead trees, and of every thing made of 
wood, is principally owing to the combination of ox3^gen 
with the carbon in the wood. 

Nearly all decay is produced by oxygen. It is oxida- 
tion. During the process of decay of vegetable substances, 
not only carbonic acid, but, previously, humic acid, (from 
humus, earth,) and ulmic acid, (from ulmus, an elm,) 
are formed. Both these are made of carbon, hydrogen 
and oxygen, and both are elements of the food of plants. 

50. Humus, or geine, in all its states, is a compound 
of carbon, with the elements of water, oxygen and hydro- 
gen. When decay has just begun, the decaying substance 
is called ulmin; with a little more oxygen, it becomes 
ulmic acid. In both these, there is more hydrogen than 
is necessary to form, with the oxygen, water. 



16 THE ATMOSPHERE. 

61. With the addition of more oxygen, just enough to 
form water, humin and then humic acid are formed. By 
the addition of still more oxygen, the humus is turned, 
successively, into geic acid, crenic acid, (krene^ a foun- 
tain,) and apocrenic acid. Several of these are often 
found, at once, in a mass of humus. 

52. If nitrogen be present in a moist, decaying mass 
of substance, it unites with hydrogen, and forms ammo- 
nia ; and a part of the ammonia, acted upon by oxygen, 
is gradually turned into nitric acid. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE FORCES ACTING IN IT. 

53. The air forms about the earth a coat which we call 
the Atmosphere, (vapor-ball,) and which extends upwards 
forty or fifty, perhaps two or three hundred, miles from 
the surface of the earth. 

54. The atmosphere is the great ocean in which all 
animal and vegetable lives exist, and all the influences 
and agencies which act upon them are at j^lay. Among 
these are lights by which all visible things are made 
known to us ; heat^ which pervades, and expands, and 
moves all things, and is essential to the life both of animals 
and of plants ; moisture, alike essential, and by which 
nearly all things are softened or mollified ; sound, with- 
out which the earth would be a silent desert, and voice 
and music and the pleasure of social life could not 
exist ; and the wonderful cause of thunder and lightning, 
which we call electricity. 



FORCES AT WORK IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 17 

55. In the atmosphere, great operations are going on ; 
all things are perpetually mmgling, or trying to mingle. 
The winds are blowing, in vast circuits, from zone to 
zone, bearing heat from the equator and cold from the 
poles, moisture from oceans, lakes, and streams, and dry- 
ness from the mountains and plains, and scattering dust 
and the seeds of plants and the eggs of minute animals. 

Into the atmosphere are continually rising vapors and 
exhalations from all moist and all decaying substances; 
poisonous g-ases from the breath of man and other ani- 
mals, and from burning volcanoes and the fires which 
are kindled by accident, or for the uses of man. AU 
these are constantly strivmg to diffuse themselves, and to 
penetrate and mingle with each other and with parts of 
the solid earth. 

56. The sun is continually darting his rays of light 
and of heat in every direction, illuminating and warming 
every tiling within the sphere of their influence. Every 
star, every fire, every candle is doing the same. Oxygen 
is always tending, with ceaseless effort, to enter into and 
combine with other things. Every other gas and vapor 
is, by its nature, diffusing itself in like manner. Water 
moistens, that is, enters into, every thing with which it 
can come in contact — the air, and all tilings in it, the 
earth, and the solid rocks. 

57. And this it does by that force by which particles 
near each other are drawn nearer. It is this force which 
makes the particles of water rise upwards from the ground 
into a heap of ashes or fine sand, and penetrate among 
the fibres or grain of wood. It is this which draws water 
up into a tube of glass with a bore as fine as a hair, 
whence it is called Capillary Attraction, (from capillus, 
Latin, a hair.} 



18 THE ATMOSPHERE. 

58. Another cause of the penetration of water is the force 
which draws fluids of different densities through a par- 
tition of thin skin or fihu placed between them, and 
makes them mix. This is called Osmotic Action. 

We can easily conceive how this action takes place. 
Water spreads itself continually, and enters into what- 
ever is in contact with it more readily than any other 
fluid. Thus it moistens and gets through a film more 
rapidly than the fluid on the other side, which also 
penetrates, but less readily. Both of them continue to 
move on, but the water always more rapidly. 

59. Oxygen combines with the particles of metals and 
turns them into rusts or oxides ; and, aided by moisture 
and warmth, it unites with the elements of wood and all 
other things made of carbon and hydrogen, and causes 
them to decay. 

60. Do not the heavy gases, like carbonic acid, sink 
to the bottom of the atmosphere, and the light ones, like 
hydrogen and carburetted hydrogen, rise to the top ? 

No. Each gas spreads or diffuses itself throughout 
all the atmosphere. As much carbonic acid is found at 
the top of a mountain as in the bottom of a valley. If a 
plant has an attraction for ammonia, it draws to itself 
the ammonia near it, and combines with it ; but the 
ammonia at a distance rushes in, comes near, .and is 
attracted and combined also, and streams of it keep 
coming in from all quarters. 

61. Heat, too, spreads itself, unceasingly, in every 
direction, and that in two ways. If it spreads from par- 
ticle to particle, as it does in a piece of iron, or any other 
solid, or as it does in the earth, it is said to be conducted^ 
or to spread by conduction. If it darts out, as it does, in 
straight lines, from all things surrounded by air or open 



RADIATION. GRAVITATION. 19 

space, it is said to spread by radiation. As it spreads, it 
expands every tiling ; and as the temperature is every 
where continually changing, from winter to summer, 
from day to night, and every hour of the day and night, 
all solids must be constantly expanding and contracting, 
and the particles of which they are composed must be 
continually approachmg to and receding from each 
other. 

In liquids, the particles that are warmed expand and 
rise, while those that are cooled contract and sink, thus 
producing currents upwards and downwards in the liquid. 
Particles of other substances, floating or suspended in 
the liquid, as they become warmer, rise towards the 
surface, and, as they cool again, sink towards the bottom; 
or, if one side of a particle expands more rapidly than 
another, it turns over, seeming as if it had life and volun- 
tary motion. 

The vapors smdi gases, expanded by heat, become Hghter, 
rise upwards towards the surface of the atmosphere, and 
their place is taken by cooler ones from every side. 

62. Why does not this perpetual strife of forces produce 
disorder and chaos ? 

These forces are not lawless forces. They all have 
their limits within which they are compelled to abide. 
Besides, there are other mighty forces always acting 
against them, and constraining them to keep within their 
bounds. 

63. One of these forces is the Attraction of Gravitation, 
which makes a stone fall to the ground, and draws every 
particle, every atom, towards every other, and all towards 
the centre of the earth, and the earth itself towards the 
sun. This gives them all their weight, and brings them 
to rest, and keeps them in their places. 

3 



20 THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE FORCES IN IT. 

Another is the force which binds the particles of a stone 
or of any other thing together, and makes it hard or strong 
or tough, which force we call the Attraction of Cohesion. 
Another is the force by which different things stick to 
each other, as mortar to a brick, or glue to wood, which 
we call the Force of Adhesion. And there are doubtless 
other forces which we do not so well understand. 

64. One of these unknown forces is the Force of Vegeta- 
ble Life, wliich draws into a growing plant the several 
substances which are necessary to its growth, and out of 
them forms all the parts of the plant. Another is the 
Force of Animal Life, which turns its food into the flesh 
and bones and other parts of the animal. 

A third is the Power which the Light of the Sun exerts 
upon all vegetables and animals, upon all colors, perhaps 
upon all things within its reach. 

A fourth is the power by which electricity draws light 
bodies, and perhaps heavy ones, towards an electrified 
surface, and again repels them. 

^b. It is from the influence of the sunlight that the 
carbonic acid and water in the sap of growing plants are 
turned into the substance called woody fibre, which gives 
them their hardness and strength. A woody plant, 
growing in the dark, lengthens, but forms no true wood, 
and so has no hardness. 

It is the influence of this light which causes the evapo- 
ration at the surface of the leaves, which thickens the 
juices, and changes them into nourishing sap. Without 
the sunlight, the peculiar odors and tastes are not formed, 
nor all the beautiful variety of colors. 

QQ. That the light of the sun has this great power 
over plants, is shown by the fact that most of those plants 
wliich naturally grow in places where the sunshine daily 

m 



EFFECT OF LIGHT ON PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 21 

comes, refuse to grow in the shade. Or, if one grows in 
the shade, it has none of the sensible properties, neither 
the strength, nor hardness, nor color, nor smell, nor taste, 
wliich it would have had growing in the sunshine. 

In the growth of a tree, the stronger and fuller the 
hglit to which it is exposed, the greater the amount of 
carbon which is formed into its texture, and the harder 
and more compact its wood. 

67. A single experiment shows that it is light and not 
air which gives wood its strength and hardness. Plant 
a little tree in a dusky room, with two openings, one 
admitting light but no air, the other air but no light, 
and all the little branches will soon turn towards the 
light. 

68. This seems to be because on the side of a branch 
towards the light, loood is formed, the growth is checked, 
and the branch hardened ; on the other side, growth con- 
tinues more rapidly, and the parts lengthen, and thus 
bend the httle branch over towards the harder side. 

During very warm, moist nights^ plants may grow in 
length and m every other dimension. In the sunlight 
only do they form wood. Hence it is that in seasons of 
unusual sunshine, the wood in a tree fully exposed to the 
sun is formed with more than common perfection, as is 
also the bark. 

69. The power of the sun's light upon animals is not 
less striking. The animals, — beasts, birds, fishes and 
insects, — of the torrid zone, where hght is intense, have 
more activity, more vivacity, and more brilliant colors 
than animals of the temperate and frozen zones. All 
animals suffer from being shut up away from the light. 

70. Human Beings, not less than other animals, Suffer 
from being kept away from Sunshine. 



22 THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE FORCES IN IT. 

A child properly managed, and left to spend a good 
many hours every day in sunshine, has more color, more 
strength, more activity, more health, and better spirits, 
in consequence. A child kept away from the sunlight is 
pale, weak, dull, delicate, and sad, and is liable, when 
this exclusion from the sun's light is long continued, to 
many forms of fearful disease. 

71. The sun, and, with it, the air, are constantly acting, 
with great power, upon the soil. 

The heat of the sun swells or expands the particles, 
and thus makes room for the entrance of the air ; and the 
oxygen of the air and the other gases which float in the 
air combine with some of the elements of the soil, and 
render them fit to aid in the growth of plants. Other 
beneficial effects are produced, of which more will be 
said hereafter. All these are increased by the frequent 
stirring of the soil. 

Hence it is that when trees are to be planted, it is 
important to dig the holes some time beforehand, in order 
that the fresh earth in the holes may be acted upon by 
the sun and the air as long as possible. 

72. The atmosphere produces many other different 
effects upon animals, upon plants, and upon the soil, 
varjdng with the direction and force of the winds, heat 
and cold, the weight and the moisture of the air, rains 
and droughts, dews, clouds, and fogs, mists and storms. 

73. What is Electricity? We know it only by its 
effects. If we rub a rod of amber, or sealing wax, with 
a piece of woollen cloth, the amber or wax is immediately 
excited, and draws towards itself, or attracts^ light bodies, 
such as bits of thread, or of elder-pith hung to a thread. 
The cause of this attraction was called electricity^ from 



ELECTRICITY. — OPPOSITE ELECTRICITIES. 23 

its being first observed in excited amber, which the Greeks 
called electron. 

A rod of ^lass may he excited in the same manner by 
rubbing with silk. But in this case the electricity is of a 
different kind. 

74. Take a smooth piece of iron or brass, or any other 
metal, and hang it up by silk threads so that it shall not 
touch or be near to any thing, and fasten to it several 
pith balls hung to the end of cotton threads. Rub the 
piece of metal wifh a rod of excited amber or sealing 
wax, and, immediately, electricity is excited, and the pith 
balls are repelled, and fly from each other and from the 
metal as far as they can go. Bring the rod of amber or 
wax near to the balls, and they will be repelled and avoid 
it. But if you bring a rod of excited glass near them, 
they will be attracted, and will fly towards it. The elec- 
tricity excited in the glass is of an opposite kind to that 
excited in the amber, and the opposite electricities attract 
each other. 

75. Touch the metal with a finger, and the little balls 
immediately fall together again. The electricity is dis- 
charged through the finger. 

76. Something similar is supposed to take place with 
vapor. When water is turned into vapor by the sun's 
heat, it forms little hollow bubbles or vesicles, which 
repel each other in consequence of being electrified by 
evaporation. Any thing which draws off the electricity 
of a cloud of such vapor causes the little vesicles to 
collapse, and rush together, and form drops of rain. 

3* 



24 THE ATMOSPHERE. 



CHAPTER lY. 

CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. — INSTRUMENTS TO MEASURE 
THEM. — CLIMATE. 

77. The state of the atmosphere is continually changing, 
and several instruments have been contrived for the pur- 
pose of measuring its changes, and of showing what its 
state is. The three most important are, — 

(1.) The thermometer^ (heat-measurer,) which shows 
the changes in the heat of the air ; 

(2.) The barometer^ (weight-measurer,) which shows 
the changes in the weight or pressure of the air ; and, 

(3.) The hygrometer, (moisture-measurer,) which 
shows the changes in the amount of moisture in the air. 

78. The Thermometer is constructed on the principle 
that almost every substance known is swelled or expanded 
by being heated, and contracted by becoming cooler ; and 
that the expansion is in proportion to the degree of heat. 

79. This may be proved by various experiments. If a 
hole in a plate of iron is just large enough to admit a rod 
of iron when cold, it will be found that, when the rod is 
heated, it will no longer enter. If the rod be left to cool 
down to its former temperature, it will enter as at 
first. This shows that the rod has been expanded by 
heat, so as to take up more room than it had previously 
taken up. 

When a wheelwright makes an iron tire for a wagon 
wheel, he makes it just long enough to bring the fellies 
closely together. In order to do this most effectually, he 
makes it a little too short to go on while cold. He there- 
fore expands it by placing it on a circular fire, and when 



THERMOMETER. 



25 





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it is hot, he easily slips it on. Upon cooling, it contracts, 
and so draws the fellies firmly and closely together. 

80. There are several kinds of thermome- 
ter. That in common use in this country is 
called Fahrenheifs, from the name of the 
person who first made it. It is made of a 
glass tube (a b fig. 1,) having a small 
bore, with a bulb (a) at one end, filled with 
quicksilver, and fastened upon a plate of 
metal or other substance, which is to be 
marked with degrees. When it is to be 
marked, or graduated^ the bulb and tube are 
held in a mixture of melting snow, or of 
snow or ice and water. The quicksilver 
within the tube contracts and falls to a cer- 
tain point, where it remains. Just against 
this point a line is drawn on the plate of the 
frame, and the number 32° (thirty-two degrees) is 
marked at the end of it. This is called the freezing point. 

The thermometer is then held in boiling water. The 
quicksilver expands and rises till it reaches a point at 
which it remains stationary. Against this point a mark 
is drawn on the plate, and the number 212° (two hundred 
and twelve degrees) is made. This is called the boiling 
point. The space between the freezing and boiling points 
is divided into 180 equal parts, called degrees. 

The space below the freezing point is divided into parts 
of this same length, down to the bulb. A thermometer, 
to be used to measure extremes of cold and heat, should 
be long enough to extend from 40° or 50° below the 
freezing, to a few degrees above the boiling point. But 
as this requires a long tube, instruments for common use 
are marked up to only 140° or 150°. 



Fig. 1. 



26 CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 

The thermometer is an instrument of great utility to 
the farmer, and indeed to every intelligent person. 

81. A Barometer is constructed upon the principle, now 
a well-known fact, that air has weight. It can be weighed 
by a delicate balance, by first filling a flask with air and 
weighing it, and then drawing out the air by an instru- 
ment called an air pump, and weighing the flask without 
the air. At the level of the sea, one hundred cubic 
inches of air weigh 305 grains, while water weighs 816 
times as much. 

82. The air seems to be pressed towards the earth by 
its weight, just as water is kept in the ocean and in lakes 
by its weight. Its pressure is greatest at the level of the 
sea, because of all the air in the sky above. As we ascend 
a hill or mountain, the pressure becomes less, because 
there is less air above us, and because the attraction of 
gravitation is diminished. The air is constantly in motion ; 
and its pressure upon the surface of water, and upon all 
other surfaces, is constantly varying. The purpose of a 
barometer is to measure this varying pressure. 

83. A barometer is made of a large tube of glass, pre- 
cisely like that of the thermometer (a b fig. 1,) but mvich 
longer, — not less than 32 or 33 inches long, — with a bag 
or bulb at one end, filled with mercury, or quicksilver, 
so contrived as to rise to a certain height in the tube, 
while it has the air bearing upon it in the bag or bulb. 
From the upper end of the tube the air is first completely 
withdrawn or exhausted, by the tube's being held upside 
down. The tube is then turned back and fastened to a 
wooden frame, or enclosed in a case with a graduated 
plate behind the upper end of the tube, on which plate 
are marked the heights of the column of quicksilver. 



BAROMETER. 27 

84. There is no pressure upon the top of the mercury 
in the tube, and the pressure of the air upon the mercury 
in the bag forces up the mercury in the tube till its 
weight exactly balances the weight, or downward pres- 
sure, of the air. The pressure of the air is sometimes 
greater, sometimes less, but is commonly sufficient to 
balance the downward pressure of a column of mercury 
29 or 30 inches long. As the pressure of the air increases, 
it causes the mercury to rise higher ; as it diminishes, it 
allows the mercury to fall lower ; and these changes are 
seen, by observing how high the surface stands as marked 
on the graduated scale. Changes in the weather are 
sometimes foreshown by changes in the height of the 
mercury as indicated by this scale. 

85. The downward pressure, or weight, of a column 
of mercury 30 inches long, and an inch square at the 
bottom, is 15 pounds ; and as this column is sustained 
by the pressure of the air, every where near the level of 
the sea, we conclude that the pressure of the air, on 
every square inch, is 15 pounds. 

86. When the mercury in the tube is slowly and gradu- 
ally rising, it commonly indicates the approach of fine 
weather. When it is regularly and slowly falling, it 
indicates foul weather. A rapid and sudden fall of the 
mercury threatens a violent wind. 

While it is rising, the surface of the mercury is convex, 
or swelling upwards ; when falling, concave, or hollowing. 

87. A very compact and convenient barometer is made 
at Lowell, Mass., of a somewhat different construction. 
A short column of mercury, in a glass tube, (c D fig. 1,) 
is pressed upon, at the upper surface, by the atmosphere, 
with which it has communication. The other end of the 



28 CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 

column of mercury presses upwards upon perfectly dry 
air confined in an enlargement (c) of the bent tube. 

When the weight of the atmosphere increases, the 
mercury is pressed downivards in the long arm and rises 
in the short arm of the tube, the dry confined air, from 
its elasticity, yielding to the pressure. The length of the 
column of mercury is marked upon a graduated scale 
placed on one side. A movable scale, (e f) called a 
vernier, is attached, so contrived as to measure the 
height of the column to hundredths of an inch. 

88. Careful observation of the winds, and of the barom- 
eter, with a knowledge how to observe, will often enable 
a person to foresee rain for some hours, or a day, or pos- 
sibly longer, before it comes ; but no person can yet 
predict, with any certamty, whether the succeeding month 
will be dry or rainy. 

It is only of late that careful and continued observa- 
tions have been carried on, upon a large scale, to discover 
the laws of storms. It is found that nearly all storms, 
in the Atlantic States, come from the west, and travel 
pretty rapidly from west to east. Hereafter we may 
know, certainly, the approach of a storm many hours 
before it reaches us. Prof. Henry, at the Smithsonian 
Institution in Washington, having telegraphic communi- 
cation with many parts of the country, is usually able to 
predict the approach of a rain-storm twelve hours before 
it comes. 

89. Of what are commonly considered the Signs of Raiii, 
none are entirely reliable. When the sun sets clear, with 
a westerly wind, and the clouds float high and in round, 
compact, well-defined masses, we may expect the next 
day to be fair. But when the sun sets in a deep mass of 



HYGROMETER. 29 

cloud, with a southerly wind, rain may be expected, that 
night or next day. 

When the swallows fly low and often dip tlieir wings 
in the water over which they are flying, when the crow 
cries louder and more frequently than common, when 
water-fowl are very noisy and active, when dogs appear 
unusually dull and sleepy, when pigs run about and look 
uneasy, when the croaking of frogs is loud and general, 
when earth worms are seen in great numbers on the 
surface, some people expect rain. 

90. The principle upon which the Hygrometer is con- 
structed is the fact that there is always more or less 
moisture in the air, and that this moisture is absorbed by 
certain substances, making them heavier, and enters into 
lines or cords made of other substances, making them 
thicker and shorter. 

91. A hygrometer may be made of a piece of sponge 
filled with a solution of some salt, which has an attraction 
for water. This sponge is suspended to one end of a 
balance, and, as it grows heavier by the moisture absorbed, 
causes the other end to rise, and thus indicates the 
quantity of moisture in the atmosphere. Or it may be 
made of a cord or string, with a weight attached, placed 
over a pully, and showing the moisture by its lengthening 
or shortening. 

92. A still more delicate hygrometer is formed of two 
thermometers on the same frame, the bulb of one of 
which is covered with thin gauze, which may be kept 
continually moist by a contrivance Jike a wick, communi- 
cating with a cylinder kept full of water. The moisture 
on the gauze evaporates and cools the bulb within. The 
amount of evaporation depends upon the dryness of the 



30 CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 

atmosphere, and is shown by the difference between the 
two thermometers. 

93. By means of these three instruments, and knowing 
how to use them, an intelhgent husbandman may select 
the moment most favorable or most important for certain 
operations ; and can often predict, with an approach to 
probability, what changes will take place in the weather 
before night or before the next morning. 

94. The Variations in the Temperature of the air depend 
first, upon the seasons, — from the cold of winter to the 
heat of summer ; 2d, upon the direction of the wind, — 
some winds always bringing cold, others always bringing 
heat ; 3d, upon the clouds, which prevent the sun's light 
and heat from falling upon the earth. 

95. The atmosphere being in continual motion, like 
the waters of the ocean, the column of air over us is 
sometimes longer and heavier, and sometimes shorter. 

96. Variation in the Moisture of the air depends chiefly 
upon the winds, which bring on air more or less abun- 
dantly charged with moisture, according as they have 
passed over seas, lakes, or rivers, or over a continent. 
In the Atlantic States of America, the easterly and 
southerly winds, coming from over the ocean, are always 
full of moisture. The south and west winds, coming 
from warmer regions, are warm, and, in proportion as 
they are more westerly, are dryer winds. The north and 
west winds, coming from the mountains and plains of 
the continent, are dry and cold. The coldest and dryest 
are the north wind and the north-west wind, and any 
wind from a point between the two. 

The moisture also depends on the temperature. Heat 
dissolves moisture as water dissolves salt. When the air 
is warm, it can contain a great deal of moisture ; but as 



DEW. 31 

the air cools, the moisture in it is condensed into clouds, 
fogs, or mists, and finally into rain. 

97. There are many other atmospheric appearances or 
phenomena which it is important for the husbandman to 
be acquainted with, such as dew and hoar frosts, which 
take place during the night, when the sky is clear ; snow, 
which seems to be frozen mist ; hail, and hurricanes, 
which are by some persons attributed to the action of 
electricity. 

98. The Formation of Dew depends upon a property 
which all solid substances have, in a greater or less 
degree, according to their nature and outer surface. 

When I hold my hand towards the fire, I feel the heat 
darting out from the fire to my hand. I feel it darting 
out, in the same manner, from a hot stove or from a hot 
flat-iron, on whatever side of the stove or iron I hold my 
hand. The heat which darts out thus in every direction 
from any hot thing is said to radiate from it, because it 
comes out straight from it, just as the spokes, Qi'adii, in 
Latin,) come out on every side from the hub of a wheel. 
If I observe carefully, I find that the heat comes out 
more abundantly from a stove the surface of which is 
very rough, than from one which is very smooth ; and I 
discover that the reason is, that every little projecting 
point radiates a stream of heat. 

Now, what I find to be true of the surface of a hot 
stove is true of every surface. Every solid body is con- 
tinually sending out heat in straight lines, — radiating 
heat, — from its surface. If several bodies are heated to 
the same degree, the one which is roughest will radiate 
and consequently cool most rapidly. 

When the sun sets, all things which have been exposed 
to his heat send it forth by radiation, and grow cool. 



32 CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE. 

Those things which have the roughest surface, like the 
stems and leaves of grass, cool most rapidly. The heat 
thus radiated is sent out into the thin air, and, if there 
are no clouds, is lost in vast space. The air which is 
near to these blades of grass imparts its heat to them and 
grows cold. The air thus becomes incapable of holding 
in solution all the water it had dissolved, and deposits it, 
in minute particles, upon the surface of the grass. The 
radiation goes on, and the moisture continues to be 
deposited, till the blades of grass are covered with drops ; 
and these drops are drops of dew. 

Now, just as, by placing a screen before a fire, we pre- 
vent the heat from being radiated into the room, and send 
it back to the fire, so a screen of clouds stretched over 
the earth prevents the heat received from the sun from 
being rapidly radiated into the empty air, and thus 
prevents the formation of dew. We find, accordingly, 
that dew is formed only on clear evenings. 

99. Hoar-frost is formed in precisely the same manner 
as dew, but at so low a temperature that the moisture 
freezes as it collects on the radiating surface, and, instead 
of forming round drops, shapes itself into slender needles 
of ice. 

100. The Climate of a Country is the general effect of 
the combined action of all the causes just spoken of, viz., 
heat, moisture, wind, and of others still.* The husband- 

* Humboldt says : " The expression * climate ' signifies all those states and 
changes of the atmosphere which sensibly affect our organs — temperature, 
humidity, variation of barometric pressure, a calm state of the air or the effects 
of different winds, the amount of electric tension, the purity of the atmosphere 
or its admixture with more or less deleterious exhalations, and, lastly, the degree 
of habitual transparency of the air and serenity of the sky, which has an impor- 
tant influence not only on the organic development of plants and the ripening of 
fruits, but also on the feelings and the whole mental disposition of man." — 
Cosmos, I. 313. 



CLIMATE. 33 

man ought to understand the climate of the country in 
which he lives, in order that he may accommodate himself 
to it m the management of himself and of the animals 
and plants he has charge of. 

101. Our New England climate is one of extremes. 
The heat is very great in summer, and the cold very severe 
in winter. The climate of the west of Europe is far 
milder. As we go west from the Atlantic the climate 
becomes less extreme. 

102. So great is the influence of climate that each 
country has its own peculiar productions, which it is often 
difficult to acclimatize^ that is, make to flourish, in any 
other ; and, before introducing a new plant or animal 
upon his farm, the farmer ought to ascertain whether it 
is suited to the climate. But both j^lants and animals 
from distant countries are frequently introduced with 
success ; so that, without a fair trial made by himself or 
some one else, the farmer ought not to take it for granted 
that a new plant or a new animal will not be safely and 
successfully introduced. 

103. The Diversity of Climate depends on many causes; 
some general and some particular and local. Among 
the general causes, the first is latitude, or the distance 
from that part of the earth where the sun is at noon 
directly, or vertically, overhead. The heat depends, in a 
great measure, upon the height above the horizon to 
which the sun rises at noon. The higher it rises, the 
hotter it is. 

The second cause is elevation above the level of the 
sea. The higher we go above this level, the colder we 
find it, till we reach the tops of lofty mountains, where 
the snow never melts. 



34 OP WATEB. 

The third cause is distance from the sea. Nearness 
to the sea has a tendency to moderate the cold of winter 
and the heat of summer ; and islands in the ocean have 
usually a more equable climate than any part of a con- 
tinent. 

Another cause, particularly affectuig the ripening of 
fruits, is the brightness of the sun, from the clearness of 
the atmosphere. The heat of clear, uninterrupted sun- 
shine ripens fruit more rapidly and develops the sweet and 
rich juices more effectually than the same amount of heat 
under a cloudy sky. 

104. Some of the particular and local causes are the 
condition of the surface of a country, whether it is 
covered with woods, or bare, situated on the mountains, 
on a plain, on the side of a river, or at the bottom of 
a valley, protected against the prevailing cold or hot 
winds, or exposed to them ; and the nature of the soil, 
its inclination, and its exposure to the south or north, to 
much or to little sunshine. 



CHAPTER V. 

OP WATER. 



105. Though it seems so simple and pure, yet water is, 
as has already been said, a compound of the two ele- 
mentary substances, oxygen and hydrogen. As it is of 
vital importance, in the economy of nature, it is found in 
the greatest abundance, filling lakes and seas and oceans. 



THREE FORMS OF WATER. LATENT HEAT. 35 

It is indispensable to the nourishment both of pUints and 
of animals ; and it dissolves much of the other food with 
which plants are nourished. 

106. At the usual temperature of the greater part of 
the year, water is a transparent liquid, which, when pure, 
has neither color, taste, nor smell. But while water is 
the great solvent of vegetable food, it is itself dissolved 
by heat, a still more powerful solvent. 

107. Water is found in the three forms or conditions 
of ice, water, and vapor, according to the amount of heat 
with which it is combined. 

(1.) With little or no heat, it is solid Ice or snow. If 
extremely cold ice be placed in a kettle over a fire, it will 
be found, by observing a thermometer with its bulb 
placed within it, to rise gradually until it reaches 32°. 
It then begins to thaw or turn into water, and if a steady 
fire be kept up, under the kettle, it continues to thaw 
until all the ice becomes water. During all this time, 
though heat from the fire is constantly entering it, 
through the kettle, it continues of the same temperature, 
just at 32°. 

What has become of the heat ? It has been used up 
in dissolving the ice and turning it into water. It has 
not rendered the water warmer ; it is hidden or latent in 
the water ; and is called the Latent Heat of the water. 
Ice has been changed by combining with heat, into 

(2.) Water. If, now, the same steady fire be continued 
under the kettle, the temperature of the water gradually 
rises to the boiling point, 212°, and then begins to boil. 
With the same steady fire, the water will entirely boil 
away, or evaporate^ in a certain space of time. And it will 
be found that it takes more than five times as much heat 
to boil the water all away, as it had taken to raise it 180°, 

4* 



36 OP WATER. 

from the freezing to the boiling point. At the same rate, 
the water would have been raised nearly to 1,000°, if it 
had not been dissolved by heat and turned into 

(3.) Vapor. The vapor thus formed is no hotter than 
the boihng water. It does not rise above 212°. What 
has become of all the heat? It has been used up in 
turning the water into vapor. This heat is not indicated 
by the thermometer. It seems to be latent in the vapor ; 
and it is called the Latent Heat of the Vapor. 

108. The boiling of water is the agitation produced by 
the rising of the vapor, formed at the bottom of the 
kettle, up through the rest of the water ; and the vapor 
is more abundantly formed in proportion as the heat of 
the fire is greater. But the water does not change its 
temperature in consequence of the violent ebullition. 
For common cooking, therefore, the gentlest boiling is 
just as effectual as the most violent. 

109. At the boiling point, vapor is formed very rapidly. 
But water, exposed to the air, is continually evaporating, 
at every temperature. Indeed, such is the tendency of 
water to take the form of vapor, that even snow and ice, 
in the air, are constantly turning into vapor. Wherever 
it takes place, evaporation always uses up heat, or causes 
it to become latent, and thus cools the air and all sur- 
rounding objects. Indeed, whenever vapor, or air, or 
any other gas, expands, so as to occupy more space, it at 
the same time requires more heat and absorbs it from 
every thing within its reach capable of furnisliing it. Its 
capacity for heat is said to be increased. 

110. When, on the contrary, vapor turns again to the 
state of water, \i gives out all the latent heat which it had 
taken in, while turning from water into vapor. The 
same is true of other gases. Whenever they are con- 



CLOUDS. — FOGS. — MIST. RAIN. 37 

densed, tlioy give out the heat which had sustained them 
in the form of gas. 

And, in hke manner, when Water Freezes, it gives out 
the Heat which it had taken in, while turning from ice 
into water. We thus see why it happens that, to protect 
vegetables, in a cellar, against freezing, we have only to 
place tubs of water there, the warmer the better. The 
temperature of the cellar will not fall below the freezing 
point, till the water has been converted into ice. 

111. The atmosphere always contains moisture ; that 
is, water in the state of vapor, which the heat of the sun 
has drawn up from the surface of the earth and sea, and 
which floats, invisible, in the air. The warmer the air is 
the more water it can contain. When the air cools, the 
invisible vapor which it contained becomes visible in little 
hollow globules or vesicles, like minute soap bubbles, and 
forms clouds, fogs and mists. 

112. The difference between clouds and fogs or mists 
is chiefly their situation. Clouds are at a distance or 
high up in the air ; Fogs are clouds near the earth ; and 
if the fog be thick enough to wet us considerably, without 
drops, we call it Mist. When a person, looking at a dis- 
tant mountain, sees it capped with a cloud, another per- 
son, standing on the top of the mountain, finds himself 
surrounded by fog or mist. 

113. Rain. The air itself may be capable of dissolving 
water, but the quantity which the air can hold depends 
upon its warmth. 

Wind which has long been blowing over the sea becomes 
completely saturated with moisture in the state of vapor. 
If it now blow upon low land warmer than itself, the air 
becomes warmer and retains all its moisture ; if upon 
land colder and gradually or rapidly higher, it is cooled 



38 OF WATER. 

and parts with its moisture. The vesicles of vapor are 
brought near each other, come together, and form drops 
large and heavy enough to fall, and which come down as 
rain. 

If air full of moisture be met by air much colder than 
itself, the sudden cooling causes the water to be thrown 
down, or precipitated, in torrents of rain. 

114. The cause of the fall of rain in a thunder shower 
is thought to be the fact that electricity is always evolved 
during evaporation, and that a cloud formed by evapora- 
tion must be therefore charged full of electricity. When 
a cloud so charged meets another, or a mass of air, 
charged with the other kind of electricity, the opposite 
electricities rush together and unite in a lightning flash, 
and the moisture held suspended by the action of elec- 
tricity is precipitated to the ground. 

115. When, during the formation of the rain drops, 
the temperature of the air is below the freezing point, 
the vesicles of moisture, or their fragments, are frozen 
into little icy needles, which unite, at an angle of 60°, 
into beautiful, star-like flakes of Snow, and fall to the 
ground. 

Snow has been called " the poor man's manure." It 
always brings down with it fertilizing substances ; and it 
performs a most important office in many regions, by cov- 
ering over and protecting from extreme cold the surface 
of the earth with all its clothing of plants, and keeping 
in the warmth which had entered the earth during the 
previous summer, and preventing its being radiated away 
into empty space. 

116. How Hail is formed is not perfectly well known. 
Hail seems to be drops of rain frozen. ElecU'icUy has 
something to do with it, and in some parts of Europe, 



SPRINGS. — WATER A SOLVENT. 39 

hail storms have been rendered much less frequent by 
the use of lightnmg rods. 

117. Springs. The water which falls upon the earth 
in rain, sinks into the ground and moistens it; and, when 
very abundant, penetrates deeper, till it meets with beds 
of rock, or clay, or of some other impermeable earth, that 
is, earth through which it cannot pass. It runs along 
the surface of these beds until it meets a natural opening, 
out of which it issues as a fountain or spring. Or, it may 
remain in a basin, on the surface of the impermeable 
bed, and be safe, as in a reservoir, until an artificial 
outlet is made by digging a well. 

118. From springs run little rivulets, by the union 
of many of which are formed brooks, rivers and lakes ; 
the waters of all of which commonly flow at last into the 
sea. There, the heat of the sun raises it in vapor to 
begin again the beneficent circuit, and form mists and 
clouds and rain. 

119. Water is essential to the life of every plant. Sev- 
eral of the substances on which plants feed, can penetrate 
into their cells and thence through the tissues, only after 
being dissolved in water. With it they are sucked in by 
the roots, and in it are carried to the very extremities of 
the plant. 

120. Next to heat, water is the most universal solvent. 
The rain, as it descends, absorbs and condenses the 
gases which float in the atmosphere, and brings them 
down into the earth fit for the use of plants.' Of 
ammonia it can dissolve 780 times its own bulk ; of car- 
bonic acid, its own bulk ; and it commonly brings down a 
portion of air, rich in oxygen, and sometimes nitric acid. 
It also absorbs and brings down all kinds of dirt, and 
other impurities, numerous minute seeds of plants, and 



40 OF WATER. 

invisible eggs of microscopic animals, and thus cleanses 
and sweetens the atmosphere. 

121. Evaporation from the surface of the earth always 
cools it. But, on the condensation of ammonia, and the 
other gases, the reverse must take jDlace. The heat which 
had held them in a gaseous form, is given to the water in 
which they are absorbed and condensed, warms it, and, 
sinking into the earth, warms the soil. 

122. Plants absorb a large quantity of water through 
every part of their surface, but chiefly through their 
roots. But by the action of light and heat, they exhale 
a good deal of it through the leaves. You have only to 
cover a plant exposed to the sun's light with a bell glass, 
and you will presently see the inner surface of the glass 
covered with dew, and soon after with little drops. The 
evaporation which is going on from the surface of 
leaves is one of the sources from which the moisture of 
the atmosphere is supplied. As we are subject sometimes 
to excessive heat and drought, and sometimes to excessive 
rains, the object of the farmer should be to guard against 
both, and to render his fields, as far as he can, indepen- 
dent of variations in moisture. 

123. We manage to prevent plants from suffering for 
want of water by irrigation, that is, watering with little 
streams, when these are possible and not too expensive ; 
and by other artificial means. We can do something 
towards it, often we can do a great deal, by keeping the 
tops of the hills in our neighborhood covered with trees. 
These attract and impede the clouds, and induce them to 
pour down their rain. 

124. Deep ploughing, by rendering the earth to a con- 
siderable depth capable of retaining moisture, will also 



TO RETAIN MOISTURE. — DRAINAGE. 41 

do something ; and fertilizing with substances which 
attract moisture, will do still more. 

Every thing done to improve the soil makes it retentive 
of moisture. Clay, mixed with a sandy soil, converts it 
into a retentive loam. The remains of vegetable and 
animal substances form a spongy matter in the soil, 
which acts as a reservoir to retain the moisture and other 
food of plants, and yield it only to their roots. 

125. The rain, as it falls, always contains carbonic 
acid, ammonia, and other elements of plant nourishment. 
If it sink into the earth, the soil absorbs all these precious 
materials, and allows the superfluous water to escape 
only after having left its contribution in the soil. Besides, 
if the rain be allowed to run off from the surface, it 
forms streams and little torrents, and carries with it 
much of the loose and most valuable portions of the soil. 

The soil should therefore be kept, for some depth below 
the surface, so mellow and penetrable, that the rain, 
instead of running off, shall sink into the ground. In 
ploughing a side hill, the furrows must run horizontally 
along the slope, so that each furrow may detain the water 
as it falls, and prevent its forming gullies, which it will 
do, if the furrows run up and down the hill. 

126. Excess of wet is also sometimes to be feared, 
especially when the water has no way of running off, but 
remains stagnant, either beneath or above the surface, for 
it then causes the plants with which it comes in contact 
to mould and decay. We must then have recourse to 
ditching and drainage. 

127. Drainage is an operation by which we draw off 
the superabundant water from the soil and from the earth 
lying beneath the soil, where it would not otherwise 
escape. It is effected by placing lines of porous earthen 



42 OF WATER. 

tubes at a convenient deptli, so arranged as to receive the 
superfluous moisture and carry it off. 

128. The eifects of drainage may be explained by a 
comparison. Plants which are kept in flower-pots would 
soon rot at the root, if the water with which they are 
watered were left to stagnate in the bottom of the pot 
without any means of escape. For this reason, the bot- 
tom of the pot has a hole in it, to let the superfluous 
water run out. Now drainage does the same service for 
the field that the hole in the bottom does for the earth 
in the flower-pot. • 

129. Drainage produces several other efiects, three of 
which are important. 

(1.) The earth being rendered less moist at the surface, 
far less evaporation takes place there. Whence, as 
evaporation always cools the surface very considerably, 
a drained field keeps in the heat better than one not 
drained ; and the natural consequence is that the crops 
ripen earlier. The grain on a drained field is generally 
fit for the sickle some days, often some weeks, earlier, 
than that on other fields. 

(2.) Lands well drained and deeply tilled bear the 
drought better than others. The reason of this seems 
to be, that the pores are always open in deeply tilled, 
well-drained land, to an unusual depth. Evaporation 
cannot reach to a great depth, and, in a season of drought, 
the open pores allow the moisture which has been kept 
in the deep earth to rise by capillary attraction. 

(3.) The subterranean pipes laid in the earth, open the 
soil to a freer access of air, allowing it, as it were, to 
breathe, and receive the benefits of being subjected to the 
action of the air. The soil is thus rendered fit to absorb 
and retain the nutritious substances brought into it by 



ADVANTAGES OF THOROUGH DRAINAGE. 43 

the rain water, and keep them laid up for the nourish- 
ment of plants. 

130. Here then are the advantages of deep and thorougli 
drainage. It deepens the available soil, by removing any- 
superfluous water from the lower portion, and allowing the 
roots of plants to penetrate freely. It warms the land by 
diminishing evaporation at tlie surface. By carrying 
the redundant moisture readily away at all seasons, it 
gives the opportunity of early cultivation, thus lengthen- 
ing our short seasons, and of thoroughly mellowing the 
soil, which cannot be done if it be too wet ; and it entirely 
avoids the danger of losing the plants on the surface by 
havuig them freeze out, as they often do, if water continues 
to stand on the surface at the approach of very cold 
weather. It moreover guards plants against the evil 
consequences of drought. 

131. For, in a well-drained soil, the roots will penetrate 
to a much greater depth than in an ill-drained soil. By 
draining, only the unnecessary and hurtful moisture is 

' carried away. The soil, if rich, retains very tenaciously all 
that is necessary, and parts with it very reluctantly and 
only to the roots of plants. Now roots which have pene- 
trated two or three feet have twice or thrice as large a 
store of moisture to draw upon, in case of drought, as 
those which have been prevented from going down more 
than one foot. 

In a well drained field, the spring rains, instead of 
being allowed to run away and be lost, are saved, as in 
a reservoir, against the heats and drought of summer. 

132. A rich soil, rendered deep and mellow by thorough 
cultivation, and by a system of underdraining, is thus 
the best preventive to the consequences of drought which 
the farmer can provide, and it is, at the same time, most 
effectual against the evils of excessive rain. 



44 OF PLANTS. 

CHAPTER YI. 

OF PLANTS. 

133. Thougli fixed, and incapable of voluntary motion, 
and differing from animals in structure and organization, 
plants proceed from other parent plants, and live, are 
nourished and die, like animals, and, like them, produce 
offspring similar to themselves. Plants live and grow. 
Animals live, grow and feel. Yegetable life, therefore, is 
a very different thing from animal life. 

134. The simplest of all plants consist of mere bladders 
or little round cells. These little cells imbibe their nour- 
ishment, in a fluid state, directly through the thin coat 
by which they are covered. The fluid within moves 
around in little curves, and changes at last take place 
in it, by which other smaller cells are formed. These 
gradually enlarge and finally burst the covering of the 
original cell, and become new plants, similar to their 
mother cell, and grow to the same size. Such are the 
simplest of all plants ; and the growth of other plants, 
even of the highest perfection of structure, takes place 
by the formation, within the cells already existing, or 
outside of tliem, of other cells similar in nature but 
sometimes differing in shape. 

135. Plants, consisting each of a single cell, are found 
in such numbers as sometimes to give a brilliant red 
color to whole miles of snow and ice on which they grow. 

136. Other plants, almost as simple, are formed of a 
thread of single cells, strung together, end to end, like a 
string of beads. Of this structure are many delicate 
fresh water plants. And it is a plant of this kind which, 



ORGANS. — ROOT. — STEM. 45 

bj growing very rapidly through dough, in which its 
seeds have been sown in the form of yeast, causes an 
action which makes it swell and form light bread. Other 
plants are formed of a single thickness of cells arranged 
side by side and end to end. These also are usually 
found growing in water. 

There are still others which consist of a few, often 
only three or six layers of cells, plants having length and 
breadth with but little thickness. Such are the licheiis 
which form a thin crust on the bark of trees and on the 
surface of rocks which have been long exposed to the 
atmosphere. 

137. Most plants are formed of cells growing out of 
each other in every direction, upwards, formmg the stem, 
downwards, forming the root, and on every side, forming 
the thickness of root, stem and branches, and leaves and 
flowers and fruits. 

138. The parts just enumerated, the parts of which the 
plant is made up, are called the Organs. 

139. The principal organs are 1st, the root ; 2d, the 
stem ; 3d, the leaves ; 4th, the flower ; 5th, the fruit. 

140. The Root is the part which penetrates from the 
light into the earth, and gives the plant foothold, and the 
means of obtaining nourishment. It usually divides into 
smaller and smaller roots and rootlets, or radicles and 
fibres, more and more slender, the cells along the sides 
and extremity of which are the real mouths by which 
most of the food of the plant enters into its circu- 
lation. The amount of food which a plant can receive 
from the soil depends upon the number and surface of 
the fibres of the roots. 

141. The Stem is the part of the plant which rises 
upwards into the air and light, and supports the branches, 



46 OP PLANTS. 

leaves, flowers and fruit. The point at or near the sur- 
face of the earth, where the root and stem join, is called 
the collar of the plant. 

142. The stem and branches are protected from heat 
and cold by the bark, 

143. The Leaves are the organs through which the air, 
and the light and heat of the sun act upon the sap which 
comes up into them through the stem. Through their 
surface the superfluous moisture is evaporated, and oxy- 
gen gas is thrown out into the air, and carbonic acid and 
other gases for the nourishment of the plant are absorbed. 

The Sap changed by these actions of the elements, is 
carried back down into the stem, and converted, by the 
vital action of the plant, into wood, bark, new branches 
and leaves, fruits and whatever else is produced by the 
plant. 

144. The Flower is the organ by means of which the 
seeds are prepared ; and a great object of the plant is the 
production of fruit containing seeds. 

145. By carefully examining a rose, you may see the 
several parts of which a Flower consists. Outside of the 
flower leaves is a flower cup or Calyx, of five green leaves, 
called the calyx leaves or sepals^ which cover and protect 
all the parts of the flower, before they are ready to open. 

146. Inside the calyx are the flower leaves, called 
Petals, tender, and of a delicate texture and beautiful 
color. All the petals together are called the Corolla. 

147. Next inside the corolla are the Stamens, slender 
threads or filaments, of a pale yellow color, each bearing 
at its extremity a little sack called an Anther, full of fine 
dust called pollen. This dust or Pollen is essential to the 
fecundation of the seeds, that is, to their becoming perfect, 
fertile seeds, fit to produce a plant. 



FLOWER. — OVARY. — FRUIT. 47 

148. Inside the stamens, in the middle of the flower, 
are the Pistils, each one of which consists of a short column, 
called a Style, tipped with a very delicate crest called the 
Stigma, which is usually tender and moist when the flower 
is in perfection. In a rose the style seems to be nearly 
wanting, the stigma appearing to rest almost directly 
upon the receptacle or centre of the flower. But if you 
cut down directly through the centre of the flower, you 
you will find the style somewhat long and comiected at 
the bottom with an ovule. 

149. The Pollen or fertilizing dust of the anther falls 
upon the moist stigma, and penetrates, by means of some- 
thing which looks like a root, to the interior of the base 
of the style to a cavity called the Ovary, containmg ovules^ 
or imperfect, rudimentary seeds. The effect is to fertilize 
the ovules and make them become real, proper seeds, Iby 
producing within them an Embryo, or minute, future 
plant. 

150. When the seeds are fertilized, the flower begins to 
fade. Its corolla falls off", its stamens shrivel up, and its 
calyx usually, but not always, falls or shrinks and disap- 
pears. The ovary swells and becomes the Fruit, which, m 
process of time, ripens and falls or dries up or decays, 
according to the kind of plant, and leaves the seeds ready 
to germinate or sprout, and thus become plants, or to be 
gathered and sown at the proper season. 

151. Whatever contains the seed is properly called the 
Fruit of a plant. In the case of wheat, rye and some 
other seeds, each kernel is at the same time a seed and a 
fruit. Usually, however, a fruit contains several or even 
a large number of seeds. A bean pod or pea pod or a 
poppy head, is a fruit, as well as an apple, a pear or a 
melon. 5* 



48 OF PLANTS. 

We may now understand what is meant by organic 
substances. Plants, as we have just seen, are made up 
of organs. So are animals. The lungs are the organs 
of breathing, the stomach is the organ of digestion. All 
the parts of animals and plants are organized, and the 
substances which belong or have belonged to animals or 
plants are called organic. Mineral and all other sub- 
stances are inorganic. 

152. Now observe what happens when the seed is put 
into the ground. Every seed contains an embryo or 
minute plant. This, called the sprout, you may easily 
see in a bean, if you open it carefully. When a seed 
is put into the earth, in a favorable state of moisture 
and warmth, it presently begins to sprout or germinate. 
The sprout breaks through the seed coat, and the future 
stem shoots upward into the light and air, and the root 
turns downward from them. 

153. As soon as the stem rises above the surface it 
commonly spreads out two seed leaves, which had been 
already formed in the seed. These leaves, or Cotyledons, 
may be always seen in a bean, pea, or apple seed, which 
has just come up. But none of the grains or grasses 
have them. The cotyledons are quite unlike the succeed- 
ing leaves of the plant. It is important to remember 
this, as we often want to know both cultivated j^lants and 
weeds as soon as they are up. 

154. Plants which have two seed leaves or cotyledons 
are called Dycoteledonous (from two Greek words, dis 
and cotyledon^ meaning two-seed-leaved.) In plants of 
this kind there appears, between the seed leaves, as soon 
as the plant is up, a little bud of unopened leaves called 

155. The Plumule. This soon begins to stretch upwards, 
bearing on its summit one or two minute leaves nearly 



MONOCOTYLEDONS. — PARTS OF A TREE. 49 

of the usual shape. These enlarge and expand, and 
from their axil or mner angle, appear one or two other, 
ordinary leaves, which, with the new joint of the stem, 
rise and expand in like manner. 

156. But all plants do not have two seed leaves. A 
kernel of maize or of wheat has only one cotyledon. 
This is also true of all the grains and grasses and of some 
other plants. Such plants are named Monocotyledonous 
Plants, (plants with one seed leaf.) A plant of this khid 
comes up with one single leaf rolled together, as may^be 
seen m the case of Indian corn or common wheat. When 
this leaf is somewhat expanded, another leaf appears 
within it, growing from a second joint in the stem. From 
each successive joint grows one leaf, till the corn-stalk or 
grass-stem is complete. 

157. The stem of a tree has external and internal 
organs. Tlie external are the trunk, the boughs, limbs 
or arms, the branches, the branchlets, the spray, and the 
shoots or twigs. 

The trunk is the main body of a tree. It begins at the 
collar, and, after rising to a greater or lesser height, 
divides into branches or ramifications. All the divisions, 
large and small, are called branches or boughs. The 
largest are called also limbs or arms. A division of a 
branch is called a branchlet ; and all the smallest divis- 
ions together are called the spray. Shoots or twigs are, 
properly, those of not over one year's growth. 

158. A shoot begins in the spring to grow from a bud 
at the end of a branch called a terminal bud, or from an 
axillary bud, or one in the axil of last year's leaf, that is, 
the angle above the leaf, between it and the stem. 

159. The internal organs are the inner bark, in several 
layers, the alburnum or sap-wood, the heart-wood, the 
pith, &c. 



60 OF PLANTS. 

160. The usual course with plants is to grow up, bear 
leaves and flowers and finally fruits, and then, if they are 
plants of a single year, to die ; if plants of two years, to 
die down to the ground ; if plants of many years, with 
woody stems, to shed their fruit and leaves, after having 
formed buds, out of which shall gi'ow the leaves, flowers 
and fruit of the next year. Those which die at4he end 
of one season, like wheat and Indian corn, are called 
annual plants. Those that live only two years, like beets, 
carrots and most other garden vegetables, are biennial; 
those that live many years, like shrubs and trees, are per- 
ennial plants. 

161. It sometimes happens with different kinds of cul- 
tivated grains, and some other plants, that the plant dies 
and falls before the seed is quite ripe. Foreseeing this, 
the husbandman reaps or mows grains and grasses before 
the seed is ripe, dries them in the sun and air, and leaves 
them, in sheaves or stacks, completely to ripen their seeds. 
He thus saves many grains and seeds which would other- 
wise fall upon the ground and be lost. 

162. As the kinds of plants are almost innumerable, 
they must be arranged in divisions, classes and families, 
so that they may be studied and recognized. How are 
they classed ? All plants with flowers belong to one or 
the other of the two great classes just now mentioned, 
Monocotyledonous and Dicotyledonous. 

163. Botanists, since the time of Linneus, until recent- 
ly, have followed him in dividing plants into classes and 
orders, made with reference to the number and situation 
of the stamens and pistils. This is called the Artificial 
system of Linneus. 

164. Plants are now best divided into natural families^ 
according to the resemblance or analogy of all their organs. 



NATURAL FAMILIES. — GENUS. — SPECIES. 51 

All those which seem to be made upon the same plan, 
with similar stems, leaves, flowers and fruit, are said to 
belong to the same Natural Family. Thus all the oaks, 
chestnuts, beeches, and hazel nuts, belong to the Oak 
Family, because, while they resemble each other in gene- 
ral appearance, in the structure of their flowers and fruit 
they are still more strikingly alike. 

165. Plants are still farther divided into genera and 
species. A genus is a subdivision of a family, and a 
species, a subdivision of a genus. The oak family, for 
example, is divided into the genera, oak, beech, chestnut, 
hornbeam, lioi>hornbeam and hazel. The genus oak is 
subdi\dded into white oak, red, black, post, over-cup, live, 
willow, and many other species. Speaking of a black oak, 
we should say; it belongs to the Class Dicotyledonous 
Plants, to the Oak Family, to the genus Oak or Quercus, 
and to the species Black Oak, or Quercus Tinctoria. 

166. An example will show of what practical use these 
divisions and subdivisions are. I find a grass which I 
suspect to be Common Hair Grass ; I wish to know cer- 
tainly ; and turn to a volume (Gray's Manual of Botany) 
which contains a description of every plant in New Eng- 
land. The first part of the volume is occupied with dico- 
tyledonous plants. I find the description of monocotyle- 
donous plants, to which I know grass belongs, beginning 
on the 426th page. Not desiring to read the whole of 
158 pages, I look for the Grass Family, and find it to be 
the 134th family, and on the 535th page. This family, I 
find, contains Qb genera. After some examination of a 
table, I find that the 47th genus of grasses is Hair Grass, 
(^Aira.') Carefully reading the description of the genus, 
in six lines, and of the first species, QAira flexuosa,^ in 
four, I find that the plant I have found belongs to it, and 



62 OF PLANTS. 

is, really, Common Hair Grass. Thus, if I understand 
the language of botany, I can find, in a few minutes, by 
means of these divisions and subdivisions, what I should 
otherwise have to read a volume through to find. 

Besides, when I have studied one plant of a family and 
know all about it, I find I thereby already know a good 
deal about every other plant of the same family. 

167. It will be useful to the farmer to know the names 
of some of the natural families to which the more impor- 
tant cultivated plants belong. 

All the kinds of pea, bean, tare, vetch, clover, lucerne, 
<fec., with flowers more or less resembling a butterfly, 
(^papilionaceous^ belong to the Pulse Family, pod-bearing 
or leguminous vegetables. The seeds of all these are 
nutritious to man, and, with their leaves and stems, are of 
great value to the domestic animals. 

168. The cabbage, turnip, radish, mustard, pepper- 
grass, water-cress, charlock, &c., belong to the Cress or 
Cruciferous^ (cross-bearing,) Family, so called because 
their flower-leaves form a cross. To the same belong 
many plants cultivated for the beauty of their flowers, 
stock, wall-flower, rocket, sweet alyssum, candy tuft, &c. 

169. Flax belongs to the Flax Family, valuable in the 
arts. 

170. The roses, peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, haw- 
thorns, apples, pears, quinces, as well as brambles, straw- 
berries and many other plants, with flowers which are like 
a little rose, belong to the Rose Family. The fruits of all 
these plants are wholesome ; many of them, very delicious. 

171. Cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins, and melons be- 
long to the Gourd Family, with some exceptions, an inno- 
cent and valuable family. 



NATURAL FAMILIES. 53 

172. Currants and gooseberries, both cultivated and 
wild, belong to the Currant Family, whose fruits are 
healthy and often medicinal. 

173. The carrot, parsnip, caraway, celery, parsley, 
coriander and others belong to the Parsley Family, Umbel- 
liferos^ (umbel or umbrella-bearing,) so valuable for their 
roots or their seeds. 

174. The sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, succory, sal- 
sify, dandelion, lettuce, daisy, mayweed, chamomile, aster, 
golden-rod, thistle, everlasting, and many others, belong 
to the Sunflower or Composite Family. 

175. Sage, mint, sweet basil, lavender, pennyroyal, 
balm, catnip, hyssop, summer savory, marjoram, thyme, 
motherwort, horse-mint, spear-mint, self-heal, and many 
other herbs, belong to the Sage or Mint Family, friendly, 
soothing, and pleasant to man. 

176. The sweet potato, morning glory, convolvulus, and 
others, to the Convolvulus Family, a suspected race, whose 
roots are, notwithstanding, sometimes of great value. 

177. The tomato, potato, capsicum, petunia, stramo- 
nium, henbane, tobacco, <fec., belong to a very poisonous 
family, called the Night-shade Family. The root even of 
the useful potato retains some of the characteristic poison. 
This poison may always be boiled away. A potato should 
therefore be so cooked as to be mealy. The waxy appear- 
ance shows that some of the poison is still present. 

178. The lilac, privet, fringe-tree and ash belong to the 
Olive Family. 

179. All the whortleberries, blueberries, cranberries, 
the checkerberry, May flower, Kalmias or American laurels, 
azaleas, and many others, belong to the Heath Family. Of 
these many are Avholesome, some doubtful, some poisonous. 



54 OF PLANTS. 

180. The beet, pigweed, or goosefoot, oraclie, spinach, 
&c., to the Goosefoot Family, a useful but sometimes 
troublesome tribe. 

181. Buckwheat, rhubarb, sorrel, dock, and knotweed, 
belong to the Buckwheat Family, Polygonacece^ some of 
which are pleasant as food or as a salad, but some are 
acrid. 

182. The black walnut, butternut, English walnut, and 
the hickories, belong to the Walnut Family, which fur- 
nishes us with wholesome and delicious nuts, and wood 
of great value. 

183. The birches and alders belong to the Birch Family ; 

184. The willows and poplars to the "Willow Family. 

185. The pines, the larch, the fir, cypress, arbor vitae, 
juniper, yew, white cedar, red cedar, spruce and hemlock 
belong to the Pine Family, of great value to builders. 

All the above and many other families belong to the 
Dicotyledons. 

186. The following belong to the class of Monocotyledons. 
The lilies, asparagus, hyacinth, crown-imperial, onion, 
garlic, and many others, belong to the Lily Family. 

187. Narcissus, amaryllis, tuberose, snowdrop, <fec., to 
the Amaryllis Family, valued for its beauty, but also 
furnishing food. 

188. Iris, crocus, cornflag, tiger-flower and blue-eyed 
grass, to the Iris Family. This and the next family 
minister to our love of beauty. 

189. Lady's slipper and the orchises belong to the 
Orchis Family; 

190. The rushes to the Rush Family ; 

191. The sedges to the Sedge Family, good for the 
basket maker and the thatcher. 



MOSSES. — LICHENS. — TREES, — SHRUBS. 55 

192. All the grasses, all kinds of grain of wliicli meal 
or flour is made, called the cereal grains, such as wheat, 
barley, rye, oats, rice, maize or Indian corn, and also the 
sugar-cane, broom-corn and millet, belong to the Grass 
Family, the most friendly of all to the family of man. 

193. The Mosses are low plants with many leaves and 
a peculiar fruit, like bird-wheat. 

194. Lichens are the thin crust-like plants which we 
see covering the surface of rocks, trunks of old trees, &c.* 

195. The difference between a tree, a shrub, and an 
undershrub, is not precisely marked. A tree is taller 
than a shrub. Most of the oaks are trees ; but two of 
those growing in New England are shrubs. Most shrubs 
throw out branches very near the ground, but some, the 
sweet fern, for example, usually do not. Under shrubs 
are very low shrubs, like the low blueberries, cranberries, 
and pigeon plums, checkerberry, and May flower. 

196. For the cultivation or planting of perennial 
plants, the soil must be stirred as deeply as can well be 
done. Annual plants do not throw down their roots so 
far into the earth, and therefore do not absolutely require 
so deep cultivation. But most of them repay the expense 
and trouble of deep ploughing; and annual plants, 
ha^dng but a short time to grow, must be supplied with 
a great abundance of suitable food. 

197. Some plants are cultivated on account of the value 
of their seeds, roots or fruits, as food for man. These 
are called alimentary. Others are cultivated as food for 

* For full and exact information upon the whole subject of plants, their 
growth, structure, names and properties, study a delightful little book by Prof. 
Asa Gray, called Ho\vv Plants Grow. For still fuller information, study Gray's 
Lessons on Botany. For the fullest and most philosophical information to be 
found in any one volume in our or any other language, study Gray's Structural 
and Systematic Botany. 

6 



66 OF PLANTS. 

other animals, and may be called forage plants ; others, 
to yield materials for use in the arts, to furnish oil, sugar, 
dyes, <fec. 

198. Of the origin of some of the cultivated plants 
very little is known. Wheat is not now found in a 
wild state ; and the same is true of most of the cereal 
plants. Indian corn is known to be a native of America, 
and is thought to have been first carried hence to the 
Eastern continent. 

199. Those cultivated plants wliich are to be found in 
a wild state, have been greatly improved by cultivation, 
especially by giving them a full supply of all the food 
they need. The wild carrot has a hard, slender root, 
containing very little nourishment. The cabbage found 
wild on the coast of France is a small, sharp-tasted plant, 
without any of the excellent qualities possessed by the 
diiferent sorts of the cultivated cabbage. 

The potato, which is found growing spontaneously in 
the mountains of Peru, and in other parts of America, 
has there green, bitter, unwholesome tubers, no larger 
than a chestnut. 

The most striking improvements have been made by 
the arts of cultivation, by richness of soil and abundance 
of food, in the fruit of the apple tree. The original tree 
from which all the others have been derived, is by some 
persons supposed to be the crab-apple tree, whose fruit is 
very small and very sour. 

200. The size, sweetness and other excellent qualities 
of most cultivated plants are thus owing in a great degree 
to the art and care of the gardener and the husbandman, 
and would lose those qualities if they wei?e long suffered 
to remain neglected, — left to themselves. 



BENEFITS OF CULTIVATION. 57 

The same seems to be true of all the animals which 
are subject to man. Their most valuable qualities have 
been, in a great degree, produced by the intelligent care 
of men. The same is true of man himself. Children 
suffered to remain uncared for and neglected, — left to 
themselves, — are likely to grow up in a condition little 
better than that of savages. 



CHAPTER YII. 

ELEMENTS OP PLANTS. * 

201. The chemists have found, by careful examination, 
with the help of the microscope, that plant-cells are never 
formed except in a fluid containing oxygen, carbon, 
hydrogen and nitrogen. These then are the elements of 
which all parts of all plants are composed. 

Of these, oxygen and carbon are obtained from car- 
bonic acid, and hydrogen and nitrogen from ammonia ; 
and both carbonic acid and ammonia are always found 
in the atmosphere, and are taken in by the leaves, or are 
dissolved by the rain falling through the air, and carried 
into the earth, where they are absorbed by the soil, and 
hence taken up by the roots. 

It may also be that the oxygen and hydrogen are 
furnished by water, and nitrogen as well as oxygen by 
the nitric acid sometimes found in the air, and dissolved 
and brought down by rain. 

202. The simplest plant, consisting of only a single 
cell, must have the power of decomposing carbonic acid, 
ammonia, nitric acid, and perhaps water. 



68 ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 

203. That which causes water, and, with it, these three 
gases, to enter the phuit-cell, is called the Osmotic Power. 

An experiment which any body can make, shows its 
action. Let some sugared water, in a tube closed below 
with a film of bladder tied across the end, and open 
above, be suspended in a vessel of pure water. The 
liquid in the tube is soon seen to increase by the passage 
of the pure water upwards through the film. At the 
same time, some of the sugared water passes through the 
film downwards into the vessel. The tube will soon be 
full and flow over into the vessel, and the double action 
will continue till the liquids inside the tube and outside 
are of the same sweetness and density. 

The passage of the fluid from without inwards is called 
endosmose ; that from within outwards, exosmose. 

Two gases, of different density, separated by a film, 
will, in the same manner, pass through it and mingle. 

It is by this power that the various substances that 
enter a plant not only pass into the cells but also from 
cell to cell, through all parts of a plant. It is by this, 
perhaps, that the gases find entrance through the leaves 
and the tender bark of recent twigs. It is by the same 
power that fluids are thought to pass from cell to cell, 
through membrane after membrane, in the bodies of 
animals. 

204. Every part of a plant, even the solid wood, con- 
tains Water, not always in a fluid state, but in such a 
state that the chemist can separate water, or the elements 
of water, even from the dryest wood or bark. Water 
must therefore be supplied to growing plants in abun- 
dance, according to the nature of the plant and the season 
of the year. Without it, in some form, no plant can 
grow. 



CARBONIC ACID. — AMMONIA. 59 

205. Carbonic Acid is the most indispensable and 
abundant article in the food of all plants. It enters the 
plant dissolved in water, and either remains in that state, 
or the vital action of the plant, in the light of the sun, 
decomposes the acid, and throws back most of the oxygen 
into the atmosphere ; but retains a portion which per- 
forms important offices ; and also retains the carbon. 
This forms the solid parts of every plant. The walls 
of the cells, the wood, the frame-work of the leaves and 
of every other part, are made of carbon, together with 
oxygen and hydrogen in the proportions in which they 
form water. 

206. Hardly less important to the nourishment of 
plants is Ammonia. This is a gas of a very pungent 
odor and burning taste, which, when absorbed by water, 
forms what is commonly called spirits of hartshorn. It 
has a great attraction for carbonic acid, with which it 
combines and forms carbonate of ammonia^ popularly 
called smelling salts. 

Ammonia is composed of hydrogen and nitrogen ; and 
as both these substances are always found in living plant- 
cells, and must be essential to the life and growth of these 
cells, not less essential is ammonia, or some other source 
of nitrogen, such as nitric acid. 

207. Carbonic acid, ammonia, nitric acid and water, 
obtained thus from the atmosphere, are the atmospheric 
food of plants, and the four simple elements which they 
contain, are the only ones always found in every plant, 
and therefore considered absolutely essential. 

208. From the fact that these essential elements are 
derived from the atmosphere may be understood the 
possibility of the growth of air-plants, which flourish 

. 6* 



60 ELEMENTS OP PLANTS. 

without any immediate connection with the earth, and 
drink in all their food from the air. 

209. The charcoal in plants is never found perfectly 
pure. Diamond is pure carbon. In plants it is always 
combined with something else. By charring, that is, 
exposing wood or other vegetable substance to great heat, 
out of the reach of the open air, all the atmospheric 
portions are consumed, or, to speak more properly, turned 
into vapor and gases, and driven off, and a perfect skeleton 
of charcoal, showing all the minutest parts of the structure 
of the plant, is left. 

210. In peat, which is the woody substance often found 
under the surface m swamps, and also in anthracite and 
bituminous coal, which are the remains of the vegetation 
of former ages, every thing in the structure of the plants, 
of which these substances are formed, is often so com- 
pletely retained, that from them the family, and even the 
genus and species of the plant may be ascertained. 

211. By the process of charring, every tiling except 
the carbon is not consumed. Indeed nothing is consumed ; 
but those portions capable of assuming a gaseous form 
are driven off. By carefully burning, in air, the charcoal 
left, the carbon combines with the oxygen of the air and 
flies off in the state of invisible carbonic acid, a portion 
of water which has still adhered to the charcoal is turned 
into vapor, and a greater or less amount of ashes is left. 

212. All those elements which thus assume a gaseous 
form and fly off into the atmosphere, as smoke, vapor or 
gas, in these two kinds of burning or combustion^ are 
often called for that reason, the combustible^ or, more 
properly, the atmospheric elements. They are oxygen, 
hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen, and their compounds, 



ASHES. SULPHUR. LIME. ^PHOSPHORUS. 61 

water in the state of vapor, ammonia, carbonic acid and 
some others. 

Those that are left in the Ashes are the incombustible 
elements, or the mineral elements. In the ashes of every 
plant is found a very considerable number of mineral 
constituents. But the ashes of plants of particular families 
are often remarkable for the amount of particular elements 
contained in them. 

213. The ashes of radishes, mustard, and other plants 
of the Cruciferous Family^ particularly of the seeds, 
contain Sulphur, or brimstone, in the state of sulphuric 
acid, combined usually with some other substance. 

214. In the ashes of pod-bearing or leguminous plants, 
such as peas and beans, and other plants of the Pulse 
Family y particularly clover, sulphuric acid in composition 
with lime, or Sulphate of Lime, is found. 

Lime is a compound of a metal called calcium, with 
oxygen ; so that sulphate of lime is made up of sulphur, 
oxygen and calcium. It is commonly called gypsum, or 
plaster of Paris. 

215. In the ashes of kernels of wheat or other grain, 
as well as of many other kinds of seed, is found a large 
quantity of a salt called phosphate of lime. This is a 
compound of lime and phosphoric acid, which is itself 
composed of oxygen and a very curious substance called 

Phosphorus. Tliis is a soft, translucent, poisonous solid, 
looking like wax, turning yellowish when exposed to light, 
of a peculiar smell, and called phosphorus, (light bearer,) 
from shining in the dark. It has so violent a tendency 
to combine with the oxygen of the air, and burn, that it 
must be kept under water. A very little of it mixed with 
other substances and applied to the end of a bit of wood, 
gives that readiness to take fire which belongs to phos- 



62 ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 

phorus matches, commonly called liicifer or friction 
matches, which a little rubbing produces heat enough to 
set on fire. 

Phosphate of lime is found not only in the seeds of 
very many plants, especially those of which bread is 
made, but in all plants, and in the bones of men and 
other animals, whence it is called bone-earth. 

216. The ashes of all kinds of straw and grass, of the 
bamboo cane, and of the scouring rush, consist, in a very 
large degree, of silex or silica; and all these plants owe 
the stiffness and hardness of their stems to the silica 
contained in them. 

Silica is oxygen combined with a metal-like substance 
called silicon. When perfectly pure, silica is a white, 
gritty powder, without taste or smell. It is the substance 
of which quartz, rock-crystal and flint are composed. 
Though wholly unlike, in appearance, to the other acids, 
it is yet an acid, and combines with the oxides of many 
of the metals to form silicates, and, in these forms, 
constitutes a very large portion of all rocks and soils. 

217. In the ashes of trees and other woody plants, as 
well as in most other ashes, potash is found. If wood 
ashes be leached, that is, if hot water be poured upon 
them, it will, in a short time, dissolve the potash in the 
ashes. The dark-colored, strong lye, thus obtained, boiled 
with oil or fat, forms common soft soap. 

Lye, boiled away, in a pot, without fat, leaves a dirty 
looking substance called potash. This, when somewhat 
purified, is called pearlash. 

218. This common Potash is the carbonate of potassa, 
a compound of carbonic acid and potassa, which is, itself, 
a compound of oxygen with a metal called potassium. 
This metal has the lustre of silver, but is soft, and so light 



ALCALIES. — POTASH. — SODA. 63 

as to float on water. So great is the attraction between 
potassium and oxygen, that it decomposes the water on 
which it floats, unites with a portion of its oxygen, exhib- 
iting the singular appearance of a little fire on the water, 
and forms potassa. 

219. In the ashes of kelp and of other plants growing 
in the sea, and of some of those growing near the sea, 
instead of potash, Soda is found, m the state of carbonate 
of Sodium, a light metal somewhat similar to potassium, 
an^ having nearly the same violent affinity for oxygen, 
so as to take fire when placed on hot water. 

220. Alcali. The ashes of sea plants have long been of 
value in commerce, from being used in the manufacture 
of hard soap, and also of glass. These soda ashes are 
called, in Spain, alcali, (Arabic al^ the, kaliy ashes,) which 
name has thus been given to soda^ and thence to potash 
and ammonia^ all which are called alcalies ; and all three 
have very similar properties. They have a bitter, acrid 
and burning taste, and the power of changing vegetable 
blue colors to green, and pink to blue. 

221. They have also the remarkable property of uniting 
with the acids, and thereby losing all their own peculiar 
properties, and destroying those of the acids. Sulphuric 
acid, for example, has the extreme sourness and corrosive 
power with the other properties of the acids. Pure soda 
has the alcaline properties just mentioned. But when 
sulphuric acid is poured upon soda, it forms a new sub- 
stance, sulphate of soda, or Glauber's salts, which is called 
a neutral salt ; a salt, because it looks very much like 
common table salt, and neutral, because it has neither 
the properties of an acid nor those of an alcali. 

It is m the state of neutral salts that most of the 
mmeral substances enter into the composition of plants. 



64 ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 

222. The ashes of asparagus, and of other plants which 
grow naturally near the sea, contain a large portion of 
common salt, in very minute, regular, cubical particles, 
called crystals. Now salt is composed of a gas called 
chlorine^ and of the metal sodium^ and this salt, — common 
table salt, — is called by the chemists Chloride of Sodium. 
And it is very remarkable that this pleasant and wholesome 
article in our food should be composed of a substance so 
ready to take fire as sodium and another like 

223. Chlorine. This is a suffocating and poisonous gas, 
of a greenish color, whence its name, (chloros, Greek for 
green,) which has a great attraction for foul air and for 
coloring substances, and is therefore employed for disin- 
fecting, or drawing off foul air, and for bleaching, or 
making things white. 

224. Oxides of two other metals, Magnesium and Iron, are 
also found in the ashes of all plants, but commonly 
united with some one of the acids. 

225. The oxide of magnesium is called Magnesia. It is 
a white, bitterish substance, resembling flour in appear- 
ance, often used in medicine. 

226. Plants growing in the sea, called sea-weeds, 
such as kelp, oar-weed, rock-weed, <fec., and those growing 
on the sea-shore, contain, in their ashes, salts of two sub- 
stances, called iodine and bromine. 

227. Iodine is a solid which looks like black lead. 
When heated, it throws up a violet colored vapor, whence 
its name, from a Greek word, (i-o-des,) meaning violet, 
colored. If a polished silver plate be held over this vapor, 
it becomes first of a yellowisli color, then violet, then deep 
blue, from the combination of the iodine Avith the silver. 
This compound is powerfully acted upon by light, and 
hence its use in the processes of the daguerreotype. 



IODINE. — BROMINE. — ACIDS. 65 

228. Iodine occurs in plants as iodides, or compounds 
of iodine with some metal, as, for example, the iodide of 
potassium. Bromine is found in a similar state, that is, 
as bromides. 

229. Bromine is a heavy, brownish liquid, of a suf- 
focating odor. When scarcely perceived, this odor is not 
unpleasant, and this, with the odors of iodine and of 
chlorine, forms probably the pleasant smells we perceive 
on a sea-beach. 

230. These are the principal and the most important 
mineral substances found in vegetables. 

But a metal called Aluminum, which is the basis of clay, 
and also the metals Manganese and Copper are found, 
very rarely, in the ashes of some plants. 

231. Are all the substances necessary to the growth of 
a plant, of equal value ? AJl are essential. If any one 
of the whole number be absent, the plant will not thrive ; 
but all are not needed in the same quantities. 

232. The Acids most important in the structure of 
plants are carbonic acid, sulphuric acid and phosphoric 
acid, either by themselves, or united with substances with 
which they form salts, such as carbonates, sulphates and 
phosphates. These are found in all plants. Silicic acid 
combined with the alcalies and with the earths is also 
essential to very many plants. 

233. But these are not the only acids found in plants. 
By a peculiar action of the vital power of particular 
plants, the elements of carbonic acid and water form a 
variety of acids differing from carbonic acid and from 
each other. 

The acid which gives to apples their characteristic taste, 
is called malic acid (Lat. malum, an apple.) The acid of 
oranges and lemons is citric acid, (Lat. citrus, an orange ;) 



§@ ELEMENTS OF PLANTS. 

that of wood sorrel (oxalis,) oxalic ; that of grape vines 
and grapes, tartaric acid. 

234. iUl these unite with the oxides of the metals 
that have been spoken of, and one or more of the salts 
formed bj the union are found in the cells or at least in 
the ashes of nearly all plants. The salts of potassa, for 
example, are always found in the ashes of potatoes, tur- 
nips, the grape vine and many others ; and none of these 
plants can flourish in a soil, however rich in other respects, 
which contains no potash. Hence potatoes, turnips, beets, 
and Indian corn, are sometimes called Potash Plants. 

235. In like manner oats, wheat, barley and rye are 
called Silica Plants, because the ashes of the straw of 
these plants are more than half made up of silica. And 
because tobacco, pea-straw, clover, and potato-tops, leave 
ashes of which more than one half is lime, these plants 
are called Lime Plants. 

236. Phosphates of Lime and Magnesia, in small quan- 
tities, are found in the ashes of all common plants ; but 
they form from one half to three fourths of the ashes of 
wheat, and a very large portion of the ashes of other 
grains. 

237. What then are the most essential elements in the 
growth of plants ? All plants, without exception, require 
for their subsistence and nutrition, the atmospheric ele- 
ments, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon, and the 
earthy elements, phosphorus, sulphur, potash, lime, mag- 
nesia, and iron. Plants of certain families require silica. 
Others require common salt, soda, iodides and bromides. 

238. Besides these, three metals, aluminum, man- 
ganese, and copper, are found very rarely, as oxides, or 
as salts, in the ashes of a few plants ; and, still more rarely, 
Fluorine, a powerful gas, remarkable for its power to 



MINERAL FOOD OF PLANTS. — CELLULOSE. 67 

corrode glass, is detected in the ashes of some plaints. It 
occurs in combination, as fluoride of calcium^ or fluor 
spar, in which form it is also found in the teeth and bones 
of animals. 

All these earthy substances are called the mineral food 
of plants. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN PLANTS. 

239. Of the simple, elementary substances spoken of in 
the last chapter, and their direct compounds, although they 
are all found in plants, none ever appear m particles large 
enough to be seen by the naked eye. Of them, however, 
are formed the substance and the nutritious and other 
useful products of the plants, called the organic corrir 
pounds. 

240. They are so called, because they are compounds 
formed by the action of the vital power of the organized 
being, a plant. 

241. Among the most important are, first, those formed 
of carbon, oxygen and hydrogen only, viz., Cellulose, 
Vegetable Jelly, Starch, Gum, Sugar, and Oil. 

242. Cellulose, also called woody fibre, is the cell-mem- 
brane, or thin covering of the cells. When first formed, it 
is tender, flexible and elastic, clear and transparent. It is 
expanded by moisture and contracted by drying. It is 
permeable to all fluids, which enter on one side and pass 
out on the other. It is called woody fibre, because it 



68 ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN PLANTS. 

forms the substance of all wood, giving it strength, 
hardness and elasticity. 

243. Vegetable Jelly is so called, because, while moist, 
it looks and feels like common jelly. When dry, it 
becomes horny or cartilaginous. Quince jelly and apple 
jelly are forms of it, but mixed with the acids and other 
compounds which give them their peculiar taste. 

244. Every-body is familiar with the appearance of Starch. 
When dry, it is somewhat hard, and crumbles between 
the fingers. When moist, it is somewhat like jelly. It is 
completely soluble in warm water, and, when perfectly 
pure, is clear and transparent. As it dries, it is at first 
a trembling jelly, but at last becomes brittle as glass. 

Starch is found, already formed, in almost every plant 
that has been examined, particularly in the grains of all 
the cerealia, in beans and pease, and almost all seeds, in 
potatoes and all other esculent roots, and in the pith of 
many plants, as in the sago palm. In arrow-root it seems 
to be purest. Starch, variously compounded, but never 
absolutely pure, constitutes the most important, and often 
the only food of two thirds of all mankind. It occurs 
in small quantities in the bark and newly formed wood 
of many trees, in winter, whence the inhabitants of the 
Polar regions are able to use the bark of trees, when 
baked, as bread. It is extracted, for use in the arts, from 
potatoes, wheat, and some other substances. 

245. Gum is the substance which we often find hardened 
in roundish masses on the bark of cherry and peach trees. 
It is in all plants ; in plants belonging to some families, 
it is found very abundantly. Gum Arabic is a well-known 
form of it. When pure, it is clear and transparent; 
when dry, very brittle. It easily dissolves in water and 
in weak acids, but not in alcohol. It is very nourishing, 



SUGAR. — VEGETABLE OILS. — ^WAX. 69 

and is sometimes used as food. By the botanists, one 
form of it is called dextrine. 

246. Loaf sugar is Sugar in a crystalline state. Atten- 
tively examined, it is found to be made up of little bright 
crystals, which reflect the light and give the brilliant white 
appearance of loaf sugar. Dissolved in water and allowed 
to evaporate and harden, it becomes sugar candy. Brown 
or Muscovado sugar is unrefined, and contains other sub- 
stances which give it its peculiar taste. Sugar is nutritious, 
and is used, all over the world, as a sweetener. It is found 
in every plant ; but in the greatest abundance in sugar cane, 
Indian corn-stalks, sorgho, beet root and carrot, and in 
sweet fruits, as the pear, and apple, and the melon. 

247 . Vegetable Oils. The peculiarity of these substances 
is their leaving upon paper or linen a translucent spot, 
and their refusal to mix with water. There is perhaps 
no plant and no part of a plant which does not contam 
oil. From some plants, as from a species of palm in 
Africa, it is extracted in vast quantities. From many 
seeds it may be pressed, as particularly from the seeds of 
flax, when it is called linseed oil, and from those of the 
turnip, the poppy and the sunflower. A plant called 
colza, which botanists suppose to be the cabbage in its 
natural condition, is extensively cultivated in France for 
the purpose of yielding oil. 

248. Wax is a kind of solid oil wliich often appears on 
the surface of the stem, leaves or fruits of plants, and in 
a very remarkable mamier upon the fruit of the candle- 
berry myrtle. In those parts of plants which have a hoary 
appearance, as is the case with many kinds of plum, the 
delicate bluish bloom consists of a thin layer of very 
small wax granules. Bees-wax is collected, perhaps 
formed, by bees. Some chemists think it is formed from 
sugar. 



70 ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN PLANTS. ^ 

249. All these organic compounds are very nearly 
related, and often change from one into another. Cellu- 
lose may turn into starch, gum or sugar. So may vege- 
table jelly. Gum or dextrine may be converted into sugar. 
These substances appear to go successively through all 
these forms, from sugar, the most soluble, to cellulose, 
the most insoluble. All these substances, 241, taken into 
the animal system, are supposed to aid in the process 
of breathing, and keeping up the warmth of the body. 

250. There is another class of substances found in 
plants, of which the cell-walls are not formed, and which 
yet are essential to the simplest processes of vegetation. 
They are composed of the elements of water, of carbon, 
and also of nitrogen, to which are sometimes added phos- 
phorus and sulphur. From the nitrogen contained in 
them, they are often called Nitrogenous Compounds. In 
their simplest form they are composed of the four atmos- 
pheric elements only, and are found in a fluid, semi-fluid, 
or solid state, within the cells ; and without their presence 
in a liquid state no new cells can be formed. From their 
great variety of appearance, and the readiness with which 
they change, these substances have been called Protein, 
from the name of an imaginary being, Proteus, who was 
fabled to assume every variety of form, to conceal himself. 

251. Protein, in combination with sulphur, forms casein^ 
with still more sulphur and a little phosphorus, albumen^ 
and with more both of sulphur and phosphorus. Gluten 
or Vegetable Fibrine. These substances are of great 
importance, and of the highest interest, from the fact that 
though essential to the bodies of animals, constituting 
the muscles and giving them strength, they are not, 
according to some chemists,* formed in the animal 

* Liebig, and others. 



CASEIN. — ALBUMEN. — GLUTEN. — CHLOROPHYL. 71 

economy, but must be taken into the system already 
formed. 

252. Casein is an essential ingredient in milk and in 
cheese, whence its name (caseus, Latm, cheese.) 

253. Albumen is nearly identical in composition with 
the white of an egg (of which albumen is the Latin name) 
and is found in many parts of the human body and the 
bodies of other animals. It is always found dissolved in 
the sap and juices of living plants. 

254. Wheat contains from 8 to 35 per cent, of Gluten, 
Indian corn 12, beans 10, rye 9 to 13, barley 3 to G, oats 
2 to 5, potatoes 3 to 4, and a little is found in beets, 
turnips and cabbages. 

255. The fact that wheat varies so much in the gluten 
it contains is one very instructive to the farmer. When 
fed with the very richest manures, especially those con- 
tainmg animal substances, wheat not only yields more 
abundantly, but the grain is richer in this most nourish- 
ing element. For Animal Fibrine is the essential portion 
of the fibrous part or muscle of the flesh of animals. 

356. The elements of every thing in the body of a man 
or any other animal must have come into the system in 
the. water or air, or in the vegetable and animal food 
which he has consumed. To exist in the body of an 
animal, they must have been found in the vegetables on 
which it has been nourished, and, before that, in the soil 
ou.t of which the vegetables grew, or in the atmosphere 
by which all have been surrounded. 

257. What it is which gives color to the leaves of Plants. 
The green color is owing to a substance called Chlorophyl, 
(leaf-green.) This is found in the leaves and in the bark 
of the newly formed twigs of nearly aU flowering plants. 
It is composed of a white, wax-like substance, and a 
7* 



T2 ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN PLANTS. 

peculiar, green, coloring matter. This green coloring 
matter is formed under the immediate action of light, 
and its depth of color seems to depend upon the inten- 
sity of the light. Hence the innumerable shades of 
green, from the delicate yellowish green of early spring 
to the deep greens of midsummer ; and hence the striking 
changes in the color of leaves, after some days of cloudy, 
warm weather, when succeeded by clear sunshine. 

258. The yellow leaves in autumn contain proportion- 
ally more wax than the green leaves of summer, and the 
yellow rinds of ripe fruits more than the green rinds of 
unripe fruits. The rich, gorgeous colors of the autumnal 
foliage have been attributed to the action upon chlorophyl 
of various vegetable acids and alkalies, under the influ- 
ence of the sun's light. They are not produced by frost. 

259. From the roots, wood, bark and leaves of various 
plants are extracted very many coloring substances used 
in the arts. Certain plants, as, for 'example, the indigo 
plant and woad, are cultivated extensively, in some coun- 
tries, for this very purpose. 

260. Tannin. This is the substance with which tan- 
ners convert the hides of animals into leather. It is 
found in the bark of several kinds of oak, and also of 
hemlock, spruce and some other trees of the Pine Family, 
and in the leaves of tea and of some plants of the Heath 
Family. It is of a sourish, astringent taste, and has this 
remarkable property of converting the animal gelatine 
of the skin into leather. Tannin is found only in the 
older wood and bark, and is supposed to be formed by 
the commencement of decay in cellulose. 

261. How the vital principle in plants, with the agency 
of the osmotic power and chemical attraction, forms the 



ACTION OF THE VESSELS OF VEGETABLES. 73 

various products which have been spoken of, and innu- 
merable others, we can only conjecture. 

Some of the imagined operations are strikingly set 
before us in a picturesque passage which may form a fit 
conclusion to this chapter. 

" The vessels of vegetables have the same wonderful, 
and seemingly intelligent power of selection, that exists 
in the vessels of animals. They are thus enabled to 
select from the compound circulating sap, what each set 
of vessels requires, to construct the tissue which each has 
m charge. One set selects materials for the alburnum, 
another for the bark, another for the leaf and the leaf- 
bud ; another forms the fruit-bud, and ultimately builds 
up the fruit. One set constructs the woody-fibre, another 
set the starch, another the gum, another the resin, another 
the bitter principle, another the sweet and nutritious 
juices, another the poisonous elements. One set forms 
from the sap, the coloring matter that blushes or glows 
in the petals of the flowers, and the coverings of the fruit. 
Another selects, atom by atom, the lime that enters mto 
the composition of the grain of wheat ; another set 
weaves the covering for this same grain, from the woody 
fibre. Another set deposits the fatty elements, and 
arranges them m layers, around the starch and sugar 
and lime, of which the kernel of corn is built up. Thus 
every tissue and every product of vegetable life are 
formed by innumerable vessels, from the descending 
sap."* 

* See a beautiful "Prize Essay" upon Manures, by Joseph Reynolds, 
M. D., of Concord, Mass. 



74 THE SOIL. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE SOIL. 

262. Of the vast interior of the earth nothing is known 
with absolute certamty. We are acquainted with the 
outer portion, the crust, only ; and the geologists and 
the chemists have been studying that very attentively for 
many years. 

By this careful and continuous study, the crust of the 
earth, together with the waters resting upon it and the 
atmosphere enveloping it, is found to be made up of sixty- 
one, perhaps sixty-two or sixty-three, elements. Several 
of these, when pure, are gases ; but all are found, usually 
in combination one with another, in a solid state. Several 
of them may possibly be hereafter found to be formed of 
one and the same substance. 

263. All these elements, except twelve or thirteen, are 
metals, more or less like iron, copper, lead, tin, mercury, 
gold and silver. The greater part of them are found 
only as ores, that is, combined usually with oxygen, or 
with sulphur, carbon, or something else, and often look- 
mg like earths, which indeed they are. About thirty-four 
of them are found in very small quantities, and are 
seldom seen except by chemists. 

264. Only a few, as gold, silver, copper, mercury, and 
platinum, are found in their native state, in the earth, 
in the condition of purity. Metallic masses and frag- 
ments of stone, called meteoric stones, or aerolites, are 
sometimes seen to fall, and are always supposed to have 



GEOLOGY. — CHEMISTRY. — THE ROCKS. 75 

fallen, from the sky. These are often found upon or near 
the surface, and consisting of iron and two other pure 
metals not oxidized, in the form of a brilliant, malleable 
compound. All the rest, whether found at the surface 
or deep beneath, are in rocks or the fragments of rocks. 

265. The study which searches into the structure of 
the earth, asks what the rocks are and in what order they 
lie, and examines the curious remains of plants and of 
animals that are often found in them, is geology ; and a 
person who pursues this study is a geologist. 

The study which searches into the inner nature of 
things, to find out what they are, what they are made of, 
and how they act on each other and on animals and 
plants, is chemistry. A person who pursues this study, 
with experunents, is a chemist ; and the process of search- 
ing, by experiments, and separating a compound sub- 
stance into its elements^ is chemical analysis. 

266. The Soil is that part of the ground which can be 
tilled, which can be reached and stirred by agricultural 
tools. It is made up of many different kinds of earth. Of 
these the three most important are silicious earth or sand, 
argillaceous earth or clay, and calcareous earth or that 
made of limestone or carbonate of lime ; and, by the 
mixture of these three, most of the different kinds of soil 
are formed. 

26T. The soil which covers the surface of the earth 
rests upon rocks lying at a greater or less depth beneath, 
from the crumbling or disintegration of which the soil 
and loose earth have apparently been formed. 

The principal and most important of these rocks are 
the following : first. Granitic Rocks, including Greenstone 
Rocks ; second, Silicious Rocks ; third, Slaty or Argilla- 



76 THE SOIL. 

ceoiis Rocks; fourth, Pudding-stone Rocks; fifth, Lime- 
stone or Calcareous Rocks.* 

268. (1.) The Granitic Rocks get their name from 
Granite, which is a hard rock composed of three minerals 
called quartz, felspar and mica. Sienite is like granite, 
but is composed of quartz, felspar, and hornblende ; and 
Greenstone is composed of felspar and hornblende, with- 
out quartz. Traprock, another very hard rock which often 
forms what seem to be natural walls, sometimes with 
steps in their ends, is composed of felspar and horn- 
blende, with another mineral called augite. Gneiss and 
Mica Slate, which look and are exceedingly like granite, 
consist chiefly of mica and quartz, with felspar ; and 
Porphyry is a very hard rock, made up almost entirely of 
felspar. 

269. Granitic Rocks, including all those mentioned 
above, are extremely hard, and are thought to be among 
the oldest rocks. They, or the minerals of which they are 
made up, are chiefly composed of 1, silex; 2, alumina; 
3, lime; 4, potash; 5, magnesia; and 6, oxide of iron; 
and, by their crumbling, or disintegration, form granitic 
earths. 

270. Far the most abundant of these six is silex or 
silica, which, as we have already said, is a metal-like sub- 
stance, silicon, chemically united' with oxygen. Though 
it is not sour, it has other properties of an acid, acts as 
one, and is called silicic acid; and the other five sub- 

* The teacher should, if possible, be furnished with a small collection of speci- 
mens of rocks and of the more important minerals found in them. By means 
of these his instructions may be made far more interesting and intelligible than 
they possibly can be without. For perfect illustration of what is taught in this 
chapter not more than twenty specimens will be required; and, by means of 
such a collection, the pupils may easily be induced to make collections for them- 
selves, and to become acquainted with the names and qualities of all the rocks 
in their neighborhood. 



SILICA. — SILICIOUS ROCKS. 77 

stances mentioned above, are usually combined with it as 
silicates of potash, silicates of alumina, &c. 

When found pure, it is called quartz or flint, and in 
that state is used in the making of glass. It is the most 
abundant solid constituent of the earth's crust, forming 
about five-eighths of the substance of the most important 
rocks. Agate, chalcedony and opal, which are hard and 
almost precious stones, are nearly pure silica. Though 
so very hard, it is rendered soluble, and is dissolved by 
the action of the alcalies and their carbonates. 

271. Silica usually occurs as coarse or fine sand, and 
enters very largely mto the composition of the soil of all 
granitic regions, such as that of the greater part of the 
New England States. Pui'e silicious sand is seldom found. 
It is commonly mixed largely with grains of sand formed 
by the crumbling of the other ingredients of the rocks. 

272. (2.) Silicious Rocks or sand-stones are composed 
of small grains of silex agglomerated or stuck together, 
and of various colors, from white to red, according to the 
proportion of oxide of iron which they contain. When 
crumbled into loose sand they make the poorest possible 
soil. 

A soil formed principally of the sands coming from 
these two sources, is a loose, light, sandy soil, readily pen- 
etrated by water, but not retaining it long, and therefore 
liable to be much aifected by drought. It is easily culti- 
vated, but not fertile, especially when its principal 
ingredient is coarse silicious sand. Its fertility and its 
readiness to retain moisture and manures depend upon 
its fineness and upon the due admixture of other ingre- 
dients of soil, clay and lime, to be spoken of presently. 

273. (3.) Slaty or Argillaceous Rocks are all more or 



78 THE SOIL. 

less like slate, and, by their crumbling and decomposition, 
seem to have given rise to clay or argillaceous earth. 

Clay is silicate of alumina; a chemical compound of 
silicic acid, alumina, and water. Clay usually contains 
also silicates of potash, of soda, and of lime. It forms a 
compact, fatty earth, which is soft to the touch, adheres 
somewhat closely to the tongue, and exhales a peculiar 
odor, which is perceived when it or clay-slate is breathed 
upon. 

Pure clay is white ; but clay, as ordinarily found, is 
colored blue, brown or red, by oxides of iron. It absorbs 
a great deal of water, and parts with it very reluctantly ; 
and it has a strong attraction for ammonia and for the 
very richest portions of manure. 

When completely wet, it becomes a thick paste, almost 
impenetrable to water and to air, which it prevents from 
percolating or penetrating farther into the earth. Under 
the effect of drought, it cracks and becomes excessively 
hard. From the action of frost, on the contrary, it swells 
and crumbles into powder, from the water's expanding, 
as it freezes, and thus breakmg up whatever contains it. 
Hence the usual humidity of clayey lands, the difficulty 
of ploughing them in a very wet or a very dry season, 
and the beneficial effects of freezing. 

274. There are many kinds of clay, and most of them 
are of great value in the plastic arts. All the varieties 
of porcelain, pottery, stone ware, earthen ware, tiles and 
bricks, are made wholly or chiefly of clay. The celebrated 
kaolin^ or pure white porcelain clay of China, is mouldered 
felspar ; and the petuntze of the Chinese potter is another 
kind of felspar containing potash. Clay is also the mate- 
rial commonly used by the statuary, in which to shape 
the first draught or model of his figures, and often by the 



CLAY. — ALUMINUM. — CALCAREOUS ROCKS. 79 

architect for the first solid representation of the ornaments 
of pillars and other parts of buildings. 

275. Most of the slates are more or less aluminous. 
The metal aluminum^ which is the basis of clay, very 
much resembles silver in color, brilliancy and hardness, 
though far less beautiful. Alum, from which it derives 
its name, is partly made of it. 

The oxide, alumina, is one of the most abundant mate- 
rials of the crust of the earth, forming not less than one 
quarter of its substance. Two of the most beautiful of 
the precious stones, the sapphire and the ruhy^ are alumina 
tinged with a little oxide of iron. They are inferior only 
to the diamond in hardness and brilliancy. Another very 
beautiful precious stone, the topaz^ is also an aluminous 
mineral. When colorless, it possesses a lustre which has 
often caused it to be mistaken for the diamond. 

276. (4.) Calcareous Rocks are composed chiefly of 
carbonate of lime^ that is, lime chemically combined with 
carbonic acid. There also enters into their composition 
a greater or less proportion of silex or other sand, and of 
clay and sometimes other mineral substances. In England 
and some other countries, vast quantities of chalky which 
is carbonate of lime, are found, and in some places the 
soil is almost wholly made of it. 

A soil consisting chiefly of calcareous earth is a very 
poor soil. It has more tenacity than sand, but less than 
clay, absorbs moisture readily, but easily parts with it, 
and is liable to crack, when dry, like clay, and to parch 
plants growing in it. Excessive moisture turns it into a 
thick mud, and if, in this state, it be exposed to extreme 
cold, it swells and cracks, and is apt to wound the roots 
of plants and even throw them out of the ground. In its 

8 



80 THE SOIL. 

mechanical properties it is a medium between clay and 
sand. 

277. (5.) Pudding-stone Rocks, sometimes called gray- 
wacke, are made up of materials formed by the mixture 
of a great variety of other rocks, which seem to have 
been brought together, in very ancient times, by the action 
of floods or streams of water. They have their name 
from their resemblance to plum-pudding, the ingredients 
being of every variety of lime-stone, clay-slate, and porphy- 
ry, greenstone, trap, and every other form of granitic rocks. 
They are often of a very coarse texture, made up of 
pieces of stone of every size, sometimes weighing hun- 
dreds of pounds, and sometimes of so fine a texture as to 
resemble slate. 

The materials are held together by a natural mortar of 
lime or of rust of iron, or by mere contact. When com- 
pletely reduced to dust, these rocks make a rich soil, from 
its containing all the mineral materials, intimately mixed, 
which are necessary to the fertility of soil. 

278. All these rocks, differing in hardness and in other 
properties, and forming, perhaps, at first, the surface of 
the earth, have, in process of time, been crumbled, and 
then, or before, transported to various distances. 

The sand, coarse or fine, formed by the crumbling of 
the granitic rocks, sand-stones, and pudding-stones, con- 
tain the six substances enumerated, 269. The slate rocks 
form clay ; and the chalks and other calcareous rocks, 
lime. Altogether they furnish all the mineral materials 
which enter into the structure of plants. 

279. How have these rocks been changed into soil ? 
Chiefly by the action of heat, of water, and of cold. The 
sun's heat warms and expands all tlie rocks upon which 
it falls. While they are in this state, the rain, descending, 



ROCKS CHANGED INTO SOIL. — WEATHEBING. 81 

penetrates their surface and moistens and softens tliem. 
Frost turns this moisture into imiumerable little wedges 
of ice, which split the thin outer coat of the rocks into 
minute fragments. The hardest rocks are thus gradually 
crumbled into dust. 

Besides these agencies, oxygen is constantly acting. So 
are other gases ; and so are carbonic acid and other acids, 
and lime, and the salts of potash, and other salts. These 
are dissolving, disintegrating and crumbling the rocks ; 
and water, in streams and torrents, is constantly rubbing 
off and dashing together the fragments. 

All these causes are still and constantly acting, not only 
upon the surface of the great rocks, but upon the surface 
of the particles of the soil in the cultivated or unculti- 
vated fields. The ceaseless action of all these and of 
other forces is called tveathering'. 

280. The important question with the farmer is. Which 
is the best soil ? Neither of the three kinds of eartli 
spoken of forms by itself a good soil. Indeed, each, by 
itself, forms a soil absolutely barren. The best natural 
soil is one formed by the due mixture of all the three, 
the bad qualities of each being corrected by the good 
qualities of the others. 

The chemical analysis of a vast number of soils shows 
that the most fertile are those into which these three 
important classes of elements enter abundantly, but not 
in equal quantities ; and that the fertility diminishes just 
in proportion as any one of the three comes near to be 
exhausted. 

281. All the innumerable soils have essentially the 
same elements. Clay, lime and sand are the basis of all. 
But soils vary as one or another of these prevails, or as 
one or another is wanting. 



82 THE SOIL. 

A soil formed by a mixture of clay and sand, in nearly 
equal proportions, is called a clayey sand or a sandy clay^ 
according as the one or the other predominates. If much 
more than one-half is clay, we call it a loamy clay. So 
we call a soil a calcareous clay^ or a clayey calcareous soil, 
as the clay or the lime is the more abundant. 

282. It must, however, always be understood, that all 
these combined, even in the most favorable proportions, are not 
sufficient to form a good soU. There must be superadded 
a certain amount of humus, mould or geine. This seems 
to be at the same time the reservoir, and often, perhaps, 
the source, of those saline matters and of a large portion 
of the nitrogenous and carbonaceous substances which 
are essential to the growth of plants. 

Humus, or Geine, for both words mean the same thing, 
is a dark-colored earthy matter, fatty to the feeling, 
formed from the remains of vegetable substances, and 
sometimes also animal, in different stages of decomposi- 
tion. It readily attracts and absorbs water and retains it, 
not only rain water but the vapor of the air. It is the 
perfection of vegetable earth. Land is considered good 
arable land, which contains three or four per cent, of it. 
Soil containing as much as eight per cent, of it, is good 
garden mould, and with ten per cent, it becomes very 
rich. 

283. It can be very readily ascertained whether there 
is any humus present, by burning a quantity of the soil 
upon a red-hot fire-shovel. As the humus calcines and 
turns into charcoal, it exhales an odor either like that of 
burnt horn or feathers, or like that of burning straw. If 
the smell be strong of burnt feathers, it indicates a soil 
rich in the products of decayed animal substance. If the 



HUMUS A SOURCE AND RESERVOIR OP CARBONIC ACID. 83 

only perceptible smell be that of burnt straw, it indicates 
humus formed from decayed vegetable substances. 

284. Humus is always favorable to vegetation, except 
when it has been produced by the decay of plants under 
water, or has been very long lying under water. This is 
often the case with peat, bog earth or marsh mud. These 
are almost entirely humus ; but when they have been 
long beneath the surface of water, they are considered 
cold, and possess acid joroperties, which render them 
unfavorable to the nourishment of plants, until corrected 
by long exposure to the influences of the atmosphere, and 
to the alternation of the sun's light and of frost. 

285. Humus not only acts as a reservoir of carbonic 
acid, holding it ready to be given to the roots of plants, 
but, as it consists mostly of carbon and water, and has an 
attraction for oxygen, it is constantly receiving oxygen 
from the air. By the progressive decay thus produced, the 
vegetable and animal remains are constantly turning into 
carbonic acid and ammonia, and the ammonia into ammo- 
niacal salts, thus rendering tile soil rich in these precious 
elements of vegetable food. In soil abundantly supplied 
with humus or other rich manure, the air is sometimes 
found to contain four hundred times as much carbonic 
acid as an equal quantity of the air in the atmosphere. 

286. The carbonic acid formed in vegetable soil by 
the oxygen, not only serves directly as food for plants, 
but it decomposes the silicates and thus sets the potash 
and other salts free to be dissolved by water and taken 
up by the roots. Another portion of the oxygen absorbed, 
combines loith the hydrogen of the humus, and produces 
ivater. This is a very valuable property, especially in 
dry seasons, and is one reason why soils abundantly 
supplied with humus suffer so little from drought. 

8* 



84 THE SOIL. 

287. Another most important property, and essential to 
the fertility of soil, is the power of absorbing moisture from 
the atmosphere. During the night, soils which possess 
this property in a sufficient degree are enabled to con- 
dense a large quantity of water, and thus make up, in a 
very considerable measure, for the enormous quantity lost 
by evaporation durmg the day. 

These powers of absorbing oxygen, of absorbing and 
retaining moisture, and of forming water, are given to a 
sandy soil by humus, and also by clay, but far more 
effectually by the two mixed together. 

288. The ricliest natural soils are those which contain all 
these ingredients, sand, clay, lime and humus in due propor- 
tions. Such are the alluvial soils found on the low banks 
of the Connecticut and many other rivers. These streams, 
in their course from their sources in the hills, wash against 
and wear away a great variety of rocks, dissolve and carry 
along with them portions that have been made soluble by 
the processes of weathering, and take up quantities of leaf 
and other vegetable mould, and bring them all away in 
their current. When, in the winter and spring, they 
overflow their banks, they deposit all these mingled 
materials upon the intervale or bottom lands, — the low 
grounds lying between the river and the hills. 

In the lower part of a river's course, these various 
materials are deposited in the state of the finest sand or 
clayey mud ; soils so formed are found to possess an almost 
inexhaustible fertility. They unite all the materials neces- 
sary for the growth of plants, clay, sand, lime and humus, 
in circumstances the most favorable, all perfectly mixed, 
and all reduced to the state of the finest powder. 

289. Next in value to these soils, for permanent culti- 
vation, are the light sandy soils formed by the crumbling 



QUARTZ, FELSPAR, MICA, HORNBLENDE, AUGITE. 85 

of the granitic rocks. They contain, in inexhaustible 
abundance, all the mineral elements necessary to the 
growth of a plant, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, iron and 
manganese, in the condition of silicates. 

290. The following table will show this to be true. 
Remember that granite, gneiss and mica slate, are com- 
posed of mica, quartz, and felspar ; syenite, of quartz, 
felspar and hornblende ; trap-rock, of augite, felspar and 
hornblende ; greenstone, of felspar and hornblende ; and 
porphyry, almost entirely of felspar. 

In one hundred parts, there are, in these different 
minerals, about these proportions. For great exactness, 
see Dana's Manual. 





Silica. 


Alumina. 


Potash. 


Magnesia. 


Iron. 


Lime. 


In Quartz, . 


. 100. 


- 


- 


- 


- 


- 


Felspar, . 


67. 


19. 


14. 


- 


- 


- 


Mica, 


. 46. 


14. 


10. 


10. 


20. 


^ 


Hornblende, . 


59. 


- 


- 


20. 


7. 


14. 


Augite, . 


. 53. 


- 


- 


8. 


17. 


22. 



291. Quartz is silica nearly pure. Felspar is a silicate 
of alumina and potash. Mica is a sihcate of alumina and 
potash, and of magnesia and iron. Hornblende is made 
of silicates of magnesia and lime, with iron ; and augite, 
of silicates of lime and magnesia, with a larger propor- 
tion of iron. In some kinds of felspar soda takes the 
place of potash. 

292. How is a light, sandy soil, possessing the mineral 
elements of fertility, to be managed, that it may become 
fertile ? The first thing to be done is to render it capable 
of absorbing moisture, carbonic acid, oxygen, and ammo- 
nia, and of retaining them so as to give them out to the 
roots of plants as they are wanted. This is done by 
mixing with it clay, which has these properties m a very 
considerable degree. 



86 THE SOIL. 

It not unfreqiiently happens tliat an abundance of clay 
is to be found lying underneath the sand at no great dis- 
tance below the surface. When this is the case, clay is 
to be dug up and allowed to remain in small ridges, so as 
to be exposed to the sunlight, the air, the rain, and the 
cold of winter. After having been so exposed, for a year 
or longer, it is ready to be scattered upon the surface of 
the sandy land, or to be ploughed into it. The good 
qualities of the land will thus be permanently improved. 
It will be able to absorb and will become retentive of 
moisture, carbonic acid, and ammonia, and of all the 
manures. Such an addition may be called an mnend- 
ment. 

293. Another, and, after the clay, a stiU more effectual 
way of rendering a sandy soil fertile, is the application of 
large quantities of marsh mud, peat or swamp muck. 
There are often, in the immediate neighborhood of sandy 
fields, old mud holes, bogs, or swamps, where vegetable 
substance, — humus, — has been accumulating for centuries. 
This, by itself, is of no value. But when spread upon 
the land, and acted upon by the atmosphere, it immedi- 
ately begins to act upon the silicates. 

" The very act of exposure of this swamp muck has 
caused an evolution of carbonic acid gas. Tliat decom- 
poses the silicates of potash in the sand ; that potash cour 
verts the insoluble into soluble manure, and lo ! a crop. 
That growing crop adds its power to the geine." 

By such processes, repeated from year to year, " it is 
not to be doubted, that every inch of every sandy knoll, 
on every farm, may be changed into a soil, in thirteen 
years, of half that number of inches of good mould."* 

* Dana's Muck Mauual. 



LAND ENRICHED BY CLOVER. 87 

And if this can be done with the barren sandy knolls, 
how much more with the plains ! 

294. Wliere neither clay nor marsh mud is to be 
easily obtained, light, sandy land may sometimes be ren- 
dered capable of absorbing and retaining the atmospheric 
elements of vegetable food and thus becoming fertile, by 
scattering plaster upon it and sowing clover seed. When 
the crop of clover, together with the weeds which will 
spring up Tvith it, is in perfection, that is, nearly or quite 
ripe, it may be ploughed in. This process, though seem- 
ingly a waste of good clover hay, is one by which many 
poor lands may be rendered fertile and afterwards kept 
so by careful cultivation. 

295. If it be objected that all these amendments re- 
quire a good deal of time and labor, it may be answered, 
that there are days in the year when a farmer can spare 
both, and that a permanent improvement of land is worth 
a good deal of both. Tliere are no gains without pains. 
Clay may be brought from a clay pit or muck from a bog 
at seasons of the year when no agricultural operation can 
go on. 

296. A Clayey Soil is to be improved first by the appli- 
cation of sand, as fine as can be found, in quantities 
proportioned to the hardness and closeness of the clay. 
The object is to bring it into such a state as shall allow 
water to penetrate freely, and that it shall harden and 
crack less under the influence of drought. If applied to 
the surface, the sand will exert at once a favorable influ- 
ence there, and will soon find its way down into the clay, 
when another layer may be applied. This may be done 
as well in the heart of wmter as at any other season. 
The sand not only improves the texture of the soil, but 
the reciprocal action of the clay and the sand, aided as it 



05 THE SOIL. 

will be by any manure that may be applied and by the 
vital power of the growing plants, supplies new materials 
for their food. 

A clayey soil is always greatly improved by deep drain- 
ing. 

297. A limestone or Calcareous Soil, in which there is a 
deficiency of sand or of clay, may be amended by the 
application of each, according to the means within reach. 
A valuable addition to a calcareous soil is the sandy mud 
found in the bed of a stream, which may often be easily 
obtained in the dryest part of summer. 

298. A fourth kind of soil, naturally unproductive of 
valuable plants, is that of marshes and swamps. Unpro- 
ductive as such soils are, they are mines of vegetable 
wealth, as they always contain an abundance of substance 
produced by the decay of vegetable and animal matters, 
— of the richest humus. 

They are to be wisely husbanded. They often contain, 
in a single acre, enough of the organic elements of fer- 
tility to convert forty acres of hungry, barren land into 
fertile soil. This mine should not be covered over and 
lost, as it often is, by burying it under a coat of sand. 
If a farmer has many acres of swamp or marsh, he may 
bring a portion of it into immediate fertility by an 
exchange with the dry and sandy hills of the neighbor- 
hood, — a load of sand for the surface of the swamp for a 
load of muck for the surface of the hill, — but he ought 
to leave always a part of his mine accessible, at every 
season of the year, and continue to draw from it as long 
as he has an acre of poor sandy land left. 

299. The soil formed from the swamp, by draining and 
covering with sand, may be greatly benefited by the 
application of lime, guano and other heating manures. 



COLD SOILS. — WARM SOILS. — COLOR. 89 

800. Soils in which clay predominates are usually 
heavy, stiff, ivet and cold, and difficult to cultivate. But, 
when well drained, amended by the application of sand 
and of humus, and carefully tilled, they produce abun- 
dantly, and repay the pains and expense which have been 
bestowed. 

Wet lands are cold because of the continual evapora- 
tion of the water at the surface. Every one knows that 
when a wet hand or face is exposed to the wind, it feels 
cool. As the moisture is converted into vapor, it takes 
up heat, and gives to the surface a sensation of coohiess. 
In the same way evaporation renders the surface of a wet 
soil constantly cool. 

301. But lands commonly dry are on that account 
warm. Sandy land retains heat far better than clayey 
or peaty land. 

Color also has an important influence. Dark-colored 
soils absorb heat, wliile light colored soils readily reflect 
it. Most manures are dark-colored. Rich soils, there- 
fore, naturally absorb heat, and rich sandy soils retain it, 
better than poor ones. 

That color has an efiect upon the power of absorbing 
heat is proved by Dr. Franklin's experiment. Place 
black, blue, red and wliite pieces of cloth on the snow in 
the sunshuie, and, after some hours, the sun's heat will 
have been so abundantly absorbed by the black, that it 
will have sunk mto the snow before the white has begun 
to grow warm, while the red will be just beginning to 
sink and the blue will have sunk almost as far as the 
black. 

302. There are few places in this part of the country 
where the soil has been formed by the crumbling of the 
rocks just beneath the surface. In most parts of the 



90 THE SOIL. 

Northern and Middle States, the soil is made up, in a 
considerable degree, sometimes wholly, of sands or clays, 
drifted from the north. These are often called diluvial 
soils, from a belief, once in vogue, that they had been 
brought to the places where they are found by the action 
of a deluge (diluvium.^ 

303. When the native forests are cut down, and the 
land cleared of the undergrowth, and broken up by the 
plough, the soil is almost uniformly found to be fertile. 
In most parts of America, this virgin soil will bear large 
crops of grain and other valuable plants, for many years 
in succession, without manure. Tliis fertility is owing 
to the fact that the surface has been occupied by forest 
trees and other forest plants for countless centuries. By 
the decay of the leaves, fruit, roots and trunks, the 
ground has been covered with a coat of humus or forest 
mould ; and by weathering, — the long continued action 
of the atmosphere, and other great agencies of nature, — 
the minerals in the soil have been brought into a state 
suitable for the food of plants. 

304. To give some instances of this action. The oxygen 
of the air, combining with the iron or oxide of iron in a 
particle of granite, makes it swell and crumble, and, at 
the same time, releases the potash or otlier element which 
had been associated with the iron, and leaves it ready to 
be taken up by the roots of a plant. Carbonic acid acts 
in a similar way upon lime and magnesia. 

305. But the carbonic acid does not act alone. Car- 
bonic acid is always ready to be dissolved or absorbed by 
water ; and water, thus charged with it, has not only the 
power of dissolving limestone and magnesian rocks, but 
exerts a slow but certain influence by which even granite 
and the other hardest rocks are gradually crumbled ; very 



ACTION OF CARBONIC ACID. — EXHAUSTED SOILS. 91 

few minerals, perhaps none, being able to resist its long- 
continued action ; and though its solvent power seems 
to be slight, in the lapse of time it produces changes of 
great importance and extent. 

306. Carbonic acid acts in other ways. It unites with 
the ammonia of the atmosphere, forming carbonate of 
ammonia, and with the potash and soda in the earth, 
forming carbonates of potash and of soda. These three 
alkaline carbonates have the power of dissolving silica. 
Now it has just been stated that silica enters as an ingre- 
dient into the composition of nearly all the harder rocks. 
Of the three minerals of which granite is composed, 
quartz is almost pure silica ; mica is two thirds silica, and 
felspar is about one half made up of silica. All these 
minerals and many others are thus gradually disinte- 
grated by the slow action of these carbonates upon the 
silica in them. 

307. Why does the fertility cease ? The mineral and 
atmospheric elements of the food of plants are gradually 
taken up by successive crops, and carried off with them, 
the humus grows thin and meagre, and the soil is ex- 
hausted. The crops obtained from the land are, year 
after year, continually smaller, till at last they are not 
sufficient to reward the labors of the husbandman. 

308. The obvious remedy is to restore to the soil the 
elements wanting, as will be shown in the chapter upon 
manures. 

309. But if a soil be barren for one plant, it is not 
necessarily so for every other. A field which, for "want 
of soluble silica, will not bear a second crop of Indian 
corn, may, from having a plenty of potash and lime in it, 
bear an excellent crop of clover or of beets or carrots. 
There may not be enough of a particular element for one 



92 OF THE SUBSOIL. 

kind of plant, while a plant of another kind may find a 
quantity of food amply sufficient for its perfect develop- 
ment. A third sort of plant may thrive upon the same 
soil, after the second, if the remaining mineral constitu- 
ents are sufficient for a crop of it. And if, during the 
cultivation of these crops, a new quantity of the sub- 
stance wanting for the first, for instance, of soluble sihca 
for Indian corn, has been rendered available by weather- 
ing, then, if the other elements be found in sufficient 
quantity, the first crop may be again grown upon the 
same land. 



CHAPTER X. 

OF THE SUBSOIL. 

810. Immediately below the soil lies the subsoil. It 
may be and often is composed of the same kind of earth 
as the proper soil ; or it may be entirely different. A 
sandy soil may rest upon a subsoil of clay, or upon cal- 
careous rock, or rock of any other kind, or upon gravel. 

311. The influence of the subsoil upon vegetation is 
often very great, especially when the soil is not deep 
enough for the free growth of the roots of the plants cul- 
tivated. In that case, when the subsoil is of such a 
nature as to admit of it, the soil should be deepened by 
ploughing. This should be done gradually and with 
judgment, because, as the subsoil has no mould or loam 
in it, turning too much of it up to the surface at once, 



AN IMPERMEABLE SUBSOIL. 93 

will be very likely to render the soil poorer for some time, 
instead of richer. If a farmer is aware that his soil 
would be improved by being deeper, he must make the 
improvement by adding to its depth a little each year. 

312. When a loose sand rests upon clay ; or a clayey 
soil upon calcareous marl, or upon sand ; indeed when- 
ever the subsoil will serve as an amendment to the soil, 
the two may be mixed with great advantage. 

The evils of a subsoil impermeable to water are the 
stagnation of water and the excessive humidity of the 
soil. Generally, a very slight declivity is sufficient to 
induce the water to trickle along below the soil upon the 
su-rface of the subsoil, until it finds some means of escape. 
But even in this case, there is likely to remain in the 
soil superfluous moisture, which ought to be carried away 
by draining. 

313. When the slope is not sufficient to lead the water 
to run off, the ground becomes boggy and the evil is 
declared by signs intelligible to every-body, by the spring- 
ing up of rushes, sedges and other bog plants. But 
when the slope allows the water to trickle away slowly, 
the evil is not so apparent. The most certain sign, per- 
haps, is the presence of the weeds called horsetail, and 
scouring rush, (species of equisetum^ which need a sub- 
soil always wet for their horizontal roots to run upon. 

It may be laid down as a rule that wherever horsetail 
appears, the ground needs draining. 



94 OP AMENDMENTS. 

CHAPTER XI. 

OF AMENDMENTS. 

314. The soil plays, in the life of plants, a double part. 
It serves to give room and foothold to the roots ; and it 
furnishes or keeps in store for plants the elements nec- 
essary for their nourishment. 

The qualities a soil ought to have, to give sufficient 
foothold, must vary with the plants. The grains need a 
somewhat compact soil to give firmness of foothold ; the 
different kinds of clover a deeper one. On the whole, 
what is best suited to plants is average qualities, a soil 
neither too compact nor too mellow, neither too heavy 
nor too light, too wet nor too dry. 

315. These evils are remedied by Amendments, that is, 
operations, or the use of substances, by which the soil 
will be improved in its physical qualities. For example, 
increasing the humidity of dry soils, diminishing that of 
moist soils, increasing the tenacity of light soils, lessen- 
ing that of heavy soils, or any other changes in the 
mechanical or physical properties, would properly be called 
amendments. 

316. Argillaceous soils may be improved by the addi- 
tion, not only of sand, but of gravel, broken brick and 
plaster, in short by any thing which will' render them 
more open, loose and penetrable by air and water. In 
England, clayey land is often much improved by burning 
over the surface, or by burning a portion of the clay 
and scattering it upon the land. By burning, the clay 
changes its properties and becomes more like sand, and in 
this state loosens the soil. 



IRRIGATION. — PLANTING. — COST. 95 

317. The amendments suited to light, dry, siliceous 
lands, are clay, as already suggested, to give them cohe- 
sion, and argillaceous marls, whenever they are to be had. 
Irrigation not only gives moisture to a dry soil, but 
always brings useful additions in the substances which 
have been dissolved in the water and are deposited when 
the water is at rest. 

318. Planting with trees, especially planting dry, barren 
hills with forest trees, permanently increases the moisture, 
not only of the surface covered by the trees, but of the 
neighborhood, and thus improves the climate. Draming 
is a valuable amendment. 

319. In reference to a proposed amendment, the ex- 
pense must be calculated, and the question must be 
settled whether the increased produce will pay for the 
outlay. 

When the materials are near at hand and it will cost 
little to get them and transport them, the question is 
easily settled. 

320. The character of the amendment must also be 
considered. A sandy soil amended by the addition of 
clay becomes permanently better. The clay can never 
be exhausted, and will always give to the soil the power 
of absorbing and retaining the elements of the food of 
plants. 

An amendment produced by the introduction of humus 
or any form of carbonaceous matter will give value to 
the land, as long as it continues to be well cultivated and 
manured, but, like manure, the added matter is liable to 
be exhausted. 

The quantity to be used will vary with the depth of 
ploughing. 

9* 



OP FERTILIZERS. 



CHAPTER XII. 



OP FERTILIZERS. 



321. The soil ought to contain all the elements neces- 
sary to the nourishment of plants. These have already 
been spoken of in the chapter upon the various elementary 
substances found in plants. They are: 1, oxygen; 2, 
carbon, in the state of carbonic acid ; 3, hydrogen ; 4, 
nitrogen, in the shape of ammonia ; 5, silicon ; 6, sulphur, 
and 7, phosphorus ; 8, chlorine, and 9, sodium, in the 
shape of common salt ; 10, calcium ; 11, potassium ; 12, 
magnesium ; 13, iron ; 14, manganesium. It must also 
contain 15, aluminum, as the basis of clay, and, though 
in minute quantity, 16, fluorine ; and the water or the 
soil must contain for certain marine plants, 17, iodine, 
and 18, bromine. 

322. These, except the first four, atmospheric elements, 
are always found in combination, as silicates, sulphates, 
nitrates, phosphates, carbonates and fiuates, of potash, 
soda, lime, magnesia, iron, manganese and alumina, or 
in other forms sometimes more complex. 

We know that these are all essential to plants, because 
we find them all in the ashes of plants. 

If any one of these elements were absolutely wanting 
in a soil, the plants to which that element was essential 
could do httle more than sprout there ; and if planted or 
sown in such a soil, would starve to death. Plaster, for 
example, is essential to clover ; and clover seed, sown in 
a soil which contained no plaster, would not come up. If 
there were a very little plaster in the soil, the clover 
might come up, but would not flourish. 



HUMUS ESSENTIAL AND TO BE SUPPLIED. 97 

323. What is the remedy ? Plainly it is, to add to the 
soil the element or elements wanting; that is, to apply 
manure to the soil. 

324. It might naturally be thought that, inasmuch as 
the atmospheric elements are furnished continually by the 
atmosphere, it could not be necessary to supply the soil 
with substances intended to furnish them. But then it 
must be remembered that the atmospheric elements are 
furnished very slowly, and it is always desirable to hasten 
the processes of vegetation, m our short seasons. It is 
therefore reasonable, and the experience of all agricultu- 
rists, in all temperate countries, shows it to be wise, to 
provide an abundant supply of those substances which 
are full of these atmospheric elements, or which serve to 
attract them and keep them in reserve for the wants of 
the growing plants. 

325. To the question, therefore. Is nothing ever to be 
supplied to the soil but the mineral elements which are 
wanting ? the answer is to be given, whenever humus is 
not already abundant in the soil, it is to be supplied. 
For humus furnishes directly, and also indirectly, by the 
changes that are going on in it from the action of the 
oxygen of the atmosphere and the vital power of plants, 
the carbonic acid, ammonia and nitric acid which are 
just as essential as the mineral elements. 

326. But how are wild plants supplied with humus ? 
By a process vastly too slow to meet the wants of the hus- 
bandman. The roots and leaves of the plants that have 
died, decay and form humus for those which are to suc- 
ceed. But the supply is usually very scanty, and wild 
plants have often a thin, meagre look, in comparison with 
those under cultivation ; as, for example, the slender- 
rooted wild carrot, when compared with the carrot of the 



98 OP FERTILIZERS. 

garden. Prof. Nuttall, who brought to this country many 
beautiful wild plants from Oregon, often said that when 
he saw them in the gardens of those to whom he had sent 
them, he could hardly recognize them, so much had they 
been improved in size and vigor by cultivation. 

327. But humus is slowly prepared by the wild plants 
themselves. The lichen which encrusts the surface of a 
rock has no humus to begin to live on. It seems to have 
the power of eating into the rock itself and of extracting 
thence the mineral elements it needs. From the air and 
the rain it gets carbonic acid and ammonia, and, when it 
dies, deposits on the rock a thin coat of humus fitted for 
the partial nourishment of other generations of lichens. 
These are succeeded, after many years, by plants some- 
what more fleshy, like the mosses, and by the grasses and 
other slender, longer rooted plants ; and these by plants 
still larger ; till, in the slow process of time, substance 
enough is gathered to give foothold to shrubs, and finally 
to trees. 

328. The trees of the forest, by their annual deposit of 
leaves and, from time to time, of fruits, and at last by the 
fall and decay of their trunks, prepare a deep bed of 
humus or forest mould for the use of the husbandman. 

Whenever he can, he avails himself of this treasure. 
But where it is wanting or scanty, cultivated plants are 
to be furnished with the abundant humus which they 
need, by placing in the soil, within reach of their roots, 
organic, that is to say, vegetable and animal substances, 
in the state of decay. 

329. How these act has already been shown. They pos- 
sess themselves and impart to the soil the power of absorb- 
ing and retaining, for the use of plants, the water and 
with it the carbonic acid, ammonia, oxygen, nitric acid 



CLASSIFICATION OF FERTILIZERS. 99 

and other elements which come down dissolved in the 
rain. These, acting on each other, and quickened in their 
action by the air, by the sun's light and heat, and by the 
electric and vital influences of the plants, continually 
prepare for the use of plants, the food which they need, 
in the form best suited to their nourishment. 

330. To the question. Which are more important, the 
atmospheric elements thus furnished, or the earthy or 
mineral ? we answer. Both are equally important. Both 
are indispensable. They are necessary to each other. A 
soil rich in organic substances, attracts and retains the 
atmospheric elements in abundance proportioned to its 
richness. Such a soil puts the earthy elements into a 
condition suited to the wants of vegetation ; and, the more 
readily and abundantly, in proportion to the fulness of the 
supply of these earthy elements. 

331. Fertilizers may accordingly be divided into two 
great classes, viz. : Inorganic or Mineral Fertilizers, and 
Organic, or Vegetable and Animal ManureSo 

OF INORGANIC OR MINERAL FERTILIZERS. 

332. In their general character, inorganic fertilizers 
are both manures and amendments. They furnish nour- 
ishment to plants, at the same time that they exert a 
mechanical action upon the texture of the soil, upon its 
lightness, stiffness, compactness, &c. 

333. The principal mineral fertilizers are lime, marl, 
plaster, wood ashesj ley, soot, sulpliates and other salts 
of ammonia, phosphates and super-j^hosphates of lime, 
common salt, carbonates, nitrates, silicates of potash and 
soda, sulphates of soda, of lime, and of magnesia, &c. 
But all of these are not in common use. 



100 OP FERTILIZERS. 

334. Quicklime is limestone, clialk, or shells, deprived 
of their carbonic acid by heat in a fire or a lime-kiln. 
Quicklime amends a soil by decomposing some of its 
ingredients, and by setting at liberty the potash and other 
alkalies which exist in combination with clay and in par- 
ticles of granitic sand. It also hastens the decay of 
organic substances, and combines with some of the gas- 
eous products given out during the process. It should be 
in a state of powder, before it is scattered upon the soil. 
It combines with the carbonic acid which is always in the 
air and constantly brought down by rain, and thus 
returns to the state of carbonate of lime. 

This, by itself, is insoluble in water, but water contain- 
ing carbonic acid has the power of dissolving carbonate 
of lime, and thus the carbonate so formed and that 
already in the limestone rocks are dissolved, and the 
rocks are disintegrated. 

It also acts upon plants by diminishing the evaporation 
from their surface, and thus husbands the moisture in the 
soil, and makes it last longer than it would without the 
lime. This same effect is also produced by gypsum, 
nitre, common salt, and most of the other saline manures. 

335. An excellent way of using lime is in a compost, 
as is practiced in Flanders. Make a layer of lime, and 
cover it with a layer of sods, weeds, scrapings of ditches 
and roads, river mud, marsh mud, and any thing else rich 
in organic substances. Follow with successive layers of 
lime and of the organic matter, and cover with a coat of 
loam. At the end of a fortnight, it may be worked over, 
and this may be repeated, from time to time. The longer 
it remains in a heap, the more complete is the mixture, 
and the better the compost. 



LIME. — MARL. 101 

336. Lime mellows clayey land. It is an essential 
element in most plants and is valuable therefore for 
itself. It is a very important element in tobacco, pota- 
toes, pease, the clovers, and turnips. It corrects the 
acidity of soils, particularly of that of bogs and swamps. 
An examination of the mineral ingredients of our soils 
shows that it is never wanting. 

337. Yet, in most parts of New England, it is so diffi- 
cult to obtain and so dear that it cannot often be largely 
applied. In small quantities, it produces, when needed, 
most important effects. In England, large qiiantities are 
often applied to land in the shape of chalk. 

338. Limestone rocks often contain magnesia, which is 
acted upon ui a lime-kiln just as lime is. This dimin- 
ishes the value of the lime, as does the mixture of clay 
and of sand, with which it is sometimes adulterated. 
Wherever oyster shells or any other shells can be readily 
got, they may be burned on heaps of brush, or other fuel 
of little value, and will be converted into a lime which is 
of greater value for agricultural purposes, than that 
formed from limestone rocks, because it contains a small 
quantity of phosphoric acid. The having already formed 
a part of an organized being seems also to prepare it 
for a similar service. 

339. Marl is a mixture of lime and clay, or lime and 
sand, sometimes, but not often, found in New England, 
but abundant in some other States. When exposed to 
the atmosphere, it should crumble easily, as its action is 
in proportion to its readiness to mix perfectly ^dth the 
soil. Though less energetic, it has aU the permanent 
effects of lime, and is very valuable as an amendment, 
clayey marl to sandy soils, and sandy marl to clayey. 



102 OP FERTILIZERS. 

340. Plaster, or plaster of Paris, as it is often called, 
is sulphate of lime : and the valuable effects it produces 
upon soils are owing to its supplying them not only with 
lime, but with the very important and often essential 
element of sulphur. 

341. Sulphur, or brimstone, is present in nearly all 
parts of vegetables and of animals. Mustard seeds and 
the seeds of all other cruciferous plants contain a large 
proportion of sulphur. It also exists in the white of 
eggs, in the curd of milk, in hair and m wool. 

Several very valuable salts are formed by sulphuric acid 
or oil of vitriol. By combining with potash, it forms sul- 
phate of potash ; with soda, sulphate of soda, — Glauber's 
salt ; with lime, sulphate of lime, — plaster or gypsum ; 
with magnesia, sulphate of magnesia, — Epsom salts ; with 
alumina, sulphate of alumina ; with oxide of iron, sul- 
phate of iron, — copperas. And it is from these and other 
similar compounds that plants derive the sulphur found 
in them. 

342. Plaster produces a striking effect upon the water 
in which it is dissolved, " such water, being mcapable of 
cooking vegetables and of dissolving soap, is called hard 
ivater; but it may be very easily and economically con- 
verted into soft water, and rendered fit for domestic and 
culinary purposes, by adding to it a small quantity of 
ordinary carbonate of soda, in the proportion of about 
half an ounce per gallon." — Normandy. 

Carbonate of lime is formed, which settles to the bot- 
tom as a white sediment, from which soft water may be 
poured off. 

343. Plaster has also the property of being decomposed 
by the carbonate of ammonia. It is thus turned into 
sulphate of ammonia, which is not volatile at a common 



PLASTER OP PARIS. — ITS ACTION. 103 

temperature, and so husbands the ammonia for the future 
use of plants. This takes place because ammonia and 
sulphuric acid have a greater mutual attraction than 
ammonia and carbonic acid. The ammonia, therefore, 
leaves the carbonic acid with which it has been united, 
and unites with sulphuric acid, to form sulphate of 
ammonia ; and the lime, deprived of the sulphuric acid, 
unites with carbonic acid, to form carbonate of lime. 
This is more clearly shown by the following diagram : — 

Sulphate ( Sulphuric Acid, Sulphate of Ammouia. 

OF < 

Lime. (Lime, 



Cakbonate ( Ammonia, . . . . • 

OF < 

Ammonia. ( Carbonic Acid, Carbonate of Lime. 

344. The carbonate of ammonia comes from the air, in 
which it is formed by the combination of the carbonic 
acid always floating there, with the anunonia always form- 
ing by the union of hydrogon and nitrogen. Or it may 
be formed in the earth. 

345. But when and how should plaster be applied? 
When a soil does not contain naturally any sulphate of 
lime, or when it has been exhausted by cropping, the 
addition of that substance may prove of great value in 
two ways ; 1st, by furnishing food for the plants men- 
tioned, and 2d, by fixing the ammonia of the atmosphere 
and laying it up in store for the future use of plants by 
decomposing, as shown above, the carbonate of ammonia 
contained in rain water, and making soluble sulphate of 
ammonia and carbonate of lime. 

When applied, plaster should be scattered, in the shape 
of the finest, impalpable powder, in the spring, just as 
vegetation is beginning, while the dew of the morning or 

10 



104 OF FERTILIZERS. 

evening is on the plants, that it may stick, l3iit not in 
rainy weather. 

346. The other sulphates are also useful. Sulphate of 
soda is said to produce good effects upon clover and other 
green crops. And so also is sulphate of magnesia good 
for these crops and for potatoes. 

347. Ashes. In Westphalia there is a proverb that 
" he pays double who buys no ashes." It is a fact often 
observed that, on strewing wood ashes on a meadow which 
has long been mown, thousands of clover plants make 
their appearance, where none were visible before. 

Ashes are made up of salts, such as silicates, phos- 
jDhates, sulphates and carbonates. The carbonates and 
sulphates of potash and soda, as found in ashes, are 
soluble and are dissolved out by leaching. The silicates, 
phosphates and carbonates of lime, magnesia, iron and 
manganese, are insoluble and thus remain in leached 
ashes. A portion also of silicate of potash remains undis- 
solved. 

Far the larger part of leached ashes is carbonate of 
lime. The next is phosphate of lime or bone dust. 

248. Unleaclied wood ashes are of great value in the 
cultivation of many crops, especially Indian corn, turnips, 
beets and potatoes, because of the great amount of car- 
bonate and other salts of potash which they contain, and 
so important is potash to these plants that they are often 
called potash plants. 

349. Leached ashes are of less general value, but still 
are a very valuable fertilizer, by reason of the salts which 
they contain, which, thougli not soluble in simple water, 
may be rendered soluble by the influence of other salts, 
of air, and of the vital power of plants, and may be thus 
again taken up into the circulation, and again perform 



ASHES. — ^LEY. — SOOT. 105 

the service they had already performed in the plants 
from the combustion of which they came. They have 
important effects when mixed in compost heaps. 

350. The ashes of sea coal and anthracite are not with- 
out value, and have a good effect upon cold, stiff soils, and 
are found an excellent top-dressing for grass, even on light 
soils. As they absorb water and the gases, they are deo- 
dorizers, and retain the offensive gases for the food of 
plants. They have a slow but good effect, scattered 
among trees, and are particularly valuable m the forma- 
tion of walks and roads. 

351. Since ashes lose some of their good qualities by 
having ley drawn from them by leaching. Ley itself must 
be useful as a manure ; and not only ley, but that which 
is left after the ley has been made into soap by combining 
with fats and oils, and done its office as soap by taking- 
dirt from clothes, dishes, faces and hands. Soap suds 
and dish water, therefore, are so valuable that they ought* 
never to be lost or thrown away. They have an excellent 
effect if sprmkled upon grass or other growmg crops, or 
poured upon compost heaps. 

352. Soot is a precious manure, since it is made up 
of carbon, in the state of the finest powder, and is full of 
volatile salts. In Flanders, it is reserved for beds of colza, 
which it protects against plant lice. In England, it is 
scattered upon meadows, where it promotes the vegeta- 
tion of grass, while it destroys moss. Three large crops 
of clover have been got in one year by the use of it. The 
soot from bituminous coal is still better than that from 
wood. 

353. As Carbonate of Potash and Carbonate of Soda are 
the forms in which potash and soda are found in ashes, 



106 OF FERTILIZERS. 

they must have the same effects as ashes, only in a more 
decided manner. 

354. The salts of ammonia, especially the nitrate, are 
very valuable as manures, and are particularly applicable 
to soils already rich in phosphates, or which contain vege- 
table acids. Sulphate of Ammonia, which may be obtained 
at a moderate price at the manufactories of gas, is excel- 
lent, when applied in small quantities, to fields of meadow 
hay or of wheat. 

355. Nitrate of Potash, East India saltpetre, is nitric 
acid and potash united. As might be expected, both 
nitrate of potash and Nitrate of Soda, South American 
saltpetre, yielding not only nitrogen but potash and soda 
to plants, are particularly beneficial to wheat and to 
barley. 

356. And, as the plants grown in the fields must supply 
the phosphate of lime which is essential to the growth of 
•the bones of all animals, and this ingredient in soil is 
likely to be exhausted, Phosphate and Super-phosphate of Lime 
are of the very greatest value as manures. Phosphate of 
lime is usually applied in the shape of ground bones, and 
super-phosphate, as bones dissolved by sulphuric acid and 
diluted with water, applied either in a liquid state, or 
reduced to powder by drying. 

35T. All the elements in the salts of ammonia, of potash 
and of lime, here spoken of, are either taken up by plants, 
or exert a most important influence upon the humus in 
the soil, hastening the process of decay, and converting 
insoluble into soluble salts. 

358. Common salt is also sometimes of great value as 
a fertilizer. For some plants, asparagus, for example, it 
is of indisputable importance, and may be employed in 
very large quantities. It not only enriches the soil for 



COMMON SALT. — OBJECT OP MANURES. 107 

asparagus, but it kills nearly all the weeds ; and as weeds 
are commonly nothing but valuable plants out of place, 
it must be used with discretion, or it may do more harm 
than good. 

Applied in small quantities, it has the effect of render- 
ing grass and clover more pleasant to animals, and, in a 
small proportion, it is of the greatest value to all cultivated 
crops. It is also a valuable addition to the farmyard 
and to the compost heap. Salt which has been used in 
curing fish or meats is much cheaper and far better than 
pure salt. 

359. The object of manures is to give to the soil what- 
ever is wholly or partly wanting to it, whether of a com- 
bustible or an incombustible nature. The use of organic 
manures is to furnish the soil with humus, geuie or 
mould, which shall serve as a reservoir, to hold in readi- 
ness, for the use of plants, all the kinds of food necessary 
to their growth. And the use of humus is to furnish and 
keep a ready supply of carbonic acid, ammonia and water, 
which three are the last result of the decomposition of 
vegetable substances. 

360. Such being the object, organic manures should be 
employed in a condition favorable to decomposition, either 
in a fermented state or, better still, ready to enter mto 
fermentation. Manures which should refuse to decom- 
pose would be of no use. But the decomposition must 
not be too far advanced. Ammonia is very volatile, as 
its common name indicates, and may readily escape into 
the air and be lost. The penetrating, characteristic odor 
of ammonia is perceived in stables, near manure heaps, 
and wherever else nitrogenous substances, that is, vege- 
table and animUl substances containing nitrogen, are m a 
state of decay. Every one who has had occasion to use 

10* 



108 OF FERTILIZERS. 

a smelling bottle, knows the effect of ammonia upon the 
organs of smell. 

When the manure is immediately covered up, the 
ammonia, as it is disengaged, is kept in the soil, espe- 
cially if there be clay or loam or something else present 
which has an attraction for it. 

361. Organic Manures are divided into Vegetable Ma- 
nures, Animal Manures, and Mixtures of Vegetable and 
Animal. 

The principal vegetable manures are green crops, kelp 
and rock-weeds, straw, sedge or reeds, leaves, brewer's 
grains, &c. 

362. Green Manures are standing crops, ploughed in, 
if possible, when ripe, for it is then that they contain the 
greatest quantity of soluble matter. The best plants for 
the purpose are the different kinds of clover, lucerne and 
sainfoin, vetches, buckwheat, cabbage-leaves, radishes, 
turnip-tops, wild mustard and wild turnip, potato-tops, 
Indian corn, rye, &c. Yet some of these are better 
suited to certain soils than others. 

To be suited to this purpose, plants should grow rap- 
idly, so as not to occupy the land too long ; their seed 
should be cheap, and they should be plants which borrow 
most of their elements from the atmosphere. Such plants 
bestow upon the soil more than they receive from it. 

363. The green crops best suited to light and sandy 
soils are buckwheat, the clovers, cabbages, radishes, wild 
mustard, potato and turnip-tops, rye, and Indian corn. 
For stiff, clayey soils, beans and pease, the different kinds 
of clover, vetches, &c. But green crops are less suited to 
clayey than to any other kind of soil. For calcareous 
soils they are exceedingly advantageous, as such soils 



GREEN CROPS AS FERTILIZERS. 109 

need no lime. For all other soils, especially clayey soils, 
lime should be scattered ^jrofusely upon the green crop 
at the time it is ploughed in. On very dry, sandy soils, 
the use of green manures is very beneficial, as they 
speedily decay in such soils and supply vegetable mould, 
which, being retentive of water, does something to correct 
the want of such soils and is very serviceable in time of 
drought. 

364. Green manuring is particularly applicable to moun- 
tainous districts, and those remote from the homestead, 
where the expense of carriage of other manures would 
be too considerable, and also to poor soils deficient in clay, 
and which, on that account, imperfectly retain water. 

365. For winter wheat, or winter rye, to both of which 
green manures are well suited, the land should be ploughed 
deep in spring, and the seed for a green crop be sown so 
that it shall be ripe a week or two before the winter grain 
is to be sown. The green crop sown with lime or plaster 
should be ploughed in to a moderate depth, say two to 
four inches, and, just as the decomposition is beginning, 
the wheat or rye should be sown. The grain, as it sj^routs, 
and while it is young, will thus take advantage of the 
ammonia and other products of the vegetable decay. 

366. Where land is very much infested with weeds, two 
green crops may be grown, the same season, and ploughed 
in before the weeds are ripe. Most of the seeds of the 
early and also of the late weeds will thus be made to come 
up, and the plants be turned in, with the green crop, for 
the benefit of the soil. 

367. The addition to the soil is not the only advantage 
of green manures. The mechanical condition of the 
ground is remarkably altered by the ploughing in of 
plants and their remains. A tenacious soil thereby loses 



110 OF FERTILIZERS. 

its cohesion; it becomes more friable and more readily 
pulverized than by the most careful ploughing. In a 
sandy soil, coherence may be given. Each stem, of the 
green plants ploughed in, opens, by its decay, a road by 
which the delicate rootlets of the future plant may ramify 
in all directions to seek their food. 

368. Kelp and rock-weed are very valuable as a ma- 
nure. They contain a good deal of nitrogen and a 
large proportion of alkaline and earthy salts, and, as 
they undergo decomposition more rapidly than other 
green manures, so their effect upon vegetation is, propor- 
tionally, much more powerful, but it is also much less 
lasting. The slender, grass-like sea-weed, also called eel- 
grass, has very little value as a manure, as it has little 
substance, and yields very slowly to decay, but is still 
valuable for its mechanical effects upon heavy soils. 

Kelp and rock-weed may be ploughed in, like other 
green manures, but this should be done as soon as possi- 
ble, or, if this is not practicable, they should be stratified 
with earth and lime, in order to convert them into a com- 
post, or they may be mixed ■v\dth ordinary manure. 

These sea-weeds act beneficially on all ordinary crops. 
If spread upon grass in spring or early summer, they 
promote its growth ; and a crop of grain subsequently 
obtained from such a soil, is said to be much improved, 
at least in quantity, for the quality is thought to be dete- 
riorated. In the north of Scotland, farmers prefer kelp 
and rock-weed to any other manure for cabbages. They 
form an excellent manure for flax and hemp, the flax 
obtained being improved thereby, both in quantity and 
quality. Rye, oats, turnips and clover are benefited by 
that manure. Their action upon vegetables is immediate 



GREEN MANURES. — LEAVES. Ill 

but does not last long, showing its effects, however, more 
the second year than the first. 

369. The straw and leaves of particular vegetables are 
the best manure for those vegetables, wheat straw for 
wheat, potato-tops for potatoes, and the leaves and prun- 
ings of grape vines for those vines. 

Straw ploughed into stiff clay soils renders them more 
porous and thus lets in the air, and causes decay not only 
of the straw but of the organic matter previously existing 
there. Wheat and other grain stubble on stiff soils 
should be ploughed in soon after the grain is removed, 
both for the reason just given, in regard to straw, and 
because, the fresher the roots, the more rapidly do they 
decompose. This does not hold true for light sandy land. 

For hay land, or land to be laid down to grass, damaged 
hay, not fit for animals, is valuable as a manure. Sedge 
and the reed-grass of salt marshes are also of use, but 
less valuable than the substances just mentioned. 

370. The leaves from different trees have very different 
degrees of value. Poplar leaves, oak leaves and chestnut, 
beech, and maple leaves, are rich in nutritive matters, 
while thumer leaves and pine leaves contain very little 
nourishment for plants. The leaves of the larch are con- 
sidered favorable to grasses, from the fact that hills 
planted with larches afford better pasturage than they 
had furnished when they were bare. But tliis may be 
the consequence of the land being shaded. All leaves 
shoidd be ploughed in as soon as possible after they have 
fallen. Leaves, grasses, young twigs, and all other gTcen 
vegetable matter, the very element of humus, are valuable 
as manures, and their value is greater in proportion to 
their freshness when ploughed in ; and whatever is val- 
uable in this way is valuable for the compost heap. 



112 OP FERTILIZERS. 

371. Animal Manures. They are more powerful than 
vegetable or mixed manures, on account of the great 
quantity of nitrogen which they contain, and the impor- 
tant salts which exist in them. The nitrogen unites with 
hydrogen, and forms ammonia, and this the ammoniacal 
salts. These dissolve other mineral substances, and are 
absorbed by water, which carries them down to the roots 
of plants. The more abundant these elements of plant 
food are, the more rapidly will they enter into plants, and 
the surer and more abundant will be the crops. The 
more completely the soil has been mixed and pulverized, 
the more readily will the roots reach their supply of food. 

372. The flesh of quadrupeds, fishes and other dead 
animals, contains about 50 per cent, of carbon, and from 
13 to 17 of nitrogen, besides water, salts of potash and 
soda, of lime and of magnesia, and is therefore one of 
the very best manures that can be. 

These substances, and all offal and animal refuse, should 
never be applied directly to the soil, but made into a com- 
post. 

373. The best way of disposing of the carcass of a dead 
animal is to place it in a hole one or two feet deep, 
sprinkle an abundance of quick-lime upon it, then throw 
on a layer of earth, then a layer of plaster, then a layer 
of earth mixed with powdered copperas, and then a suffi- 
cient depth of earth. The plaster and copperas absorb 
the ammonia and sulphuretted hydrogen, as they are 
formed, and prevent all unpleasant effluvia. 

In a few weeks, the heap may be opened, the bones sep- 
arated, to be used in bone manure, and the remaining 
mass turned over and mixed, if necessary, with additional 
earth. This, repeated once or twice, will make the sub- 
stance ready for use. (^Normandy,) The body of a dead 



SULPHURETTED HYDROGEN. — ANIMAL MANURES. 113 

horse can convert twenty tons of peat into a manure 
richer and more lasting than stable manure. — Dana. 

374. Sulphuretted hydrogen is a nauseously smelling 
compound of sulphur and hydrogen. It gives its peculiar 
smell to a rotten egg. When dead fish or fish offal is 
thrown upon land, it not only diffuses a most offensive 
smell to a great distance, but it imparts a very di-sagree- 
able flavor to the crops, and also to the milk and to the 
butter made from the milk of cows who feed upon such 
crops. 

375. Hoofs, hair, feathers, skins, wool, and blood, con- 
tain more than 50 per cent, of carbon, and from 13 to 18 
of nitrogen, besides.sulphur, and salts of lime, of soda and 
of magnesia. They therefore hold the first rank among 
manures, and, as a long time is required for their decom- 
position, their action may last for seven or eight years. 
They yield excellent results, made into a compost for 
potatoes, turnips, or hops, or for meadow land. 

376. Hair, spread upon meadows, augments the crop 
threefold ; and, the Chinese, who know its value, collect it 
every time they have their head shaved, — and the opera- 
tion is performed once a fortnight, — and sell it to the 
farmers. The crop of hair, from the head of each indi- 
vidual, amounts, in a year, to about half a pound. Every 
million of persons therefore affords two hundred and fifty 
tons of hair, that is, of manure of the most valuable kind, 
since it represents at least two thousand five hundred 
tons of ordinary barnyard manure, and which might be 
collected without trouble, but which is now invariably 
lost. You may calculate what must be the loss for the 
State, and for the whole United States. 

377. Blood, besides more than 52 per cent, of carbon 
and 17 per cent, of nitrogen, contains soluble salts, such 



114 OF FERTILIZERS. 

as common salt, phosphates, sulphates and carbonates of 
potash, soda, &c., water, and some insoluble salts, namely 
phosphate of lime and of magnesia. Like flesh, it should 
be made into a compost with other substances, and it thus 
becomes a very valuable manure for light soils, while its 
effect on clayey soils is less obvious. 

378. Bones contain more than 53 per cent, of phosphate 
of lime, a little phosphate of magnesia, some carbonate of 
soda, &c., and more than 7 per cent, of nitrogen. Their 
principal value is owing to the quantity of the phosphates 
they contain, as these salts are largely removed from a 
soil by the feeding of cattle and by successive crops. 
These salts remain after the bones have been deprived of 
their fatty substance by the soap-boiler, though most of 
the nitrogen is lost. Bones should be ground before 
being used, and may be applied at the rate of ten or 
twelve hundred weight to the acre. Even when ground, 
they produce effects which may be seen for several years. 

379. The action of bones may be accelerated by con- 
verting their phosphates into perphosphates or super- 
phosphates, which is done by mixing the ground bones 
with half their weight of sulphuric acid diluted with three 
or four times its bulk of water. This is to be thoroughly 
mixed and left a day or two at rest. One barrel of the 
pasty mass may then be mixed with one hundred barrels 
of water and sprinkled upon the field from a water-cart 
or by scoops. Or the perphosphate may be mixed with a 
large quantity of earth, or sawdust, soot or powdered char- 
coal, and thus applied to the land. 

380. It is easy to see how it comes that animal manures 
are so valuable. Animals live almost wholly upon sub- 
stances derived from the vegetable kingdom. These sub- 
stances, restored to the earth, from which and from the 



MIXED MANURES. 115 

air they must originally have come, are naturally, there 
fore, the very most important elements of the food of 
plants. 

381. Mixed Manures. It is the uniform experience of all 
farmers and gardeners in all parts of the world, that barn 
manure, that which comes from the stable, the cow-house, 
the sheei>fold, the pig-sty and other similar sources, is, on 
the whole, the most valuable and the most universal in its 
beneficial effects of all known manures. Other manures 
have great value for particular purposes. This is useful 
for all. It is the only manure which keeps up the fer- 
tility of all kinds of land. This is just what we should 
expect. Many plants are cultivated as food for cattle 
and other animals. The concentrated essence of the 
nutritious elements of plants goes to form the bodies of 
animals ; and we have just seen how extremely valuable 
as manure, is every part of those bodies. A portion is 
converted mto milk. We know how precious, primarily 
as food and indirectly as furnishing butter and cheese, the 
milk of cows is. In the mountains of Europe, and among 
the poorer classes, the milk of goats and of sheep, is not 
less precious. In the great plains of Arabia and Tartary, 
the same priceless advantages are afforded by the milk of 
the camel and the mare. 

All these valuable elements of vegetable food, except the 
comparatively small portion which is converted into flesh 
or milk, are or should be thrown upon the manure heap. 

382. Manure is of such primary importance upon every 
farm, and there is so much danger that valuable portions 
of it should be washed away by rain and lost in the earth, 
or dried up by the sun, or wafted away by the winds, that 
particular care should be taken to secure it. 

The best and most convenient arrangement, when it 

can be made, is to have the manure fall into a cellar 
11 



116 OF FERTILIZERS. 

immediately under the stable or cow-house. And care 
should be taken that no portion, liquid or solid, should be 
lost. If it be left exposed to the open air, and suffered 
to be drenched by rain, or parched up by the sun, a great 
quantity of the products of its decomposition will be vola- 
tilized or washed away. There is danger also of its heat- 
ing, from the process of decomposition which immediately 
begins, especially in the cellar under the stable for horses. 
The temperature should not be permitted to exceed 100° 
of Fahrenheit, and if a smell of ammonia be perceived, it 
is a proof that the vahiable products of its decomposition 
are wasting ; and means must be immediately emj^loyed 
to fix them, that is, make them combine with something 
else, and thus prevent their loss. 

383. This can be done by watering the manure heap 
with dilute sulphuric acid, or a solution of copperas, 
(sulphate of iron,) or by sprinkling plaster over it, when 
the odor of ammonia will immediately disappear. In a 
cellar, however, where the liquid manure is as carefully 
saved as the solid, and into which a stream of water may 
be directed by a spout from the gutter under the eaves, 
there will seldom be danger of heating, and a little fresh 
garden soil or loam thrown in may produce all the most 
important effects of the chemical substances. 

384. By Decomposition is meant a change among the 
elements of a compound substance and their union in 
other forms. This takes place in consequence of the 
attraction which the elements have for the oxygen of the 
air and of water. The vital principle counteracts this 
attraction. In an egg, for example, as long as there is 
life in it, the contents remain unchanged and are ready 
to be waked up into a living creature. But as soon as 
the life is gone, decomposition begins, the sulphur and 



DECOMPOSITION. — FERMENTATION. 117 

hydrogen in the egg, warmed a little, attract each other 
and form sulphuretted hydrogen, which is ready to fly 
off, and oxygen unites with the other ingredients, forming 
new compounds. 

385. Fermentation. The oxygen of the air is always 
ready to unite with other elements. If the juices of 
plants containing sugar, such as cider, or wiiie, for 
example, be carefully kept from the air, they remain 
sweet. But if the air be admitted, the oxygen immedi- 
ately unites with the albumen of the juice, and then with 
the sugar, and the Vinous Fermentation begins. If this is 
allowed to continue, the sugar will be changed into 
carbonic acid and alcohol. 

Weak wine, cider or beer, exposed to air, at the tem- 
perature of from 70° to 90°, gradually grows warmer, 
and becomes thick by slender threads moving in every 
direction through it, with a low hissing noise. When the 
noise has ceased, and the threads have attached them- 
selves to the sides and bottom of the vessel, the liquor, 
now become clear, has passed tlu-ough the Acetous Fer- 
mentation, and become acetic acid or vinegar. 

386. The final products of complete decay are univer- 
sally the same. The carbon of organic bodies combines 
with oxygen and forms carbonic acid. The hydrogen 
unites with oxygen and forms water, or with nitrogen 
and forms ammonia ; or with sulphur and phosphorus, 
forming sulphuretted and phosphuretted hydrogen. The 
incombustible matters alone remain. Moisture and 
warmth are necessary at the beginning and at every stage 
of decomposition. To prevent it, therefore, we have only 
to keep the substance cold and dry. 

387. It is desirable to keep the stable and cow-house 
always clean and sweet ; and this may be effectually done 
by sprinkling a little plaster upon the floor once a day. 



118 OF FERTILIZERS. 

We commonly think that a stable or a cow-house is 
necessarily a dirty place. Why ought it to be kept clean 
and sweet ? It is almost quite as essential to the health 
and comfort of horses or of cows, that they should be kept 
clean and allowed to breathe a pure atmosphere, as it is 
for the health and comfort of human beings. Besides, 
cows are often milked in their stalls; and if so pene- 
trating a substance as ammonia fill the air there, it will 
necessarily be absorbed by the milk and give it a bad taste 
and smell. 

The cost of a little plaster is very trifling. Enough to 
answer the purpose for a whole winter will not cost a dol- 
lar ; and the value of the manure will be increased far 
more than that, so that you have only to pay a little pains 
for the pleasure of being clean and having the animals 
clean, with a sweet smelling place for them to live in and 
yourself to go to. 

388. The products of the stable, of the cow-house, of 
the sheep-fold and of the pig-sty, are not of quite the 
same composition and value. They are different and 
suited to different uses. As a general rule, the contents 
of the cellar under the cows and oxen are more fit for 
very dry, light soils, and those from the horse-stable for 
stiff, clayey soils. The scrapings of the sheep-fold are 
better suited to meadow lands, as they often impart a dis- 
agreeable flavor to culinary vegetables ; and the same is 
true of the contents of the pig-sty. 

The common practice of throwing every kind of manure 
into one cellar, to form one heap, is not a bad one. 

When the soil to be cultivated is an average soil, neither 
a stiff clay nor a dry sand, but a free, arable soil, the 
practice is a very good one. The defects of one kind of 
manure are corrected by the qualities of another, and 



MIXED MANURES. — CARE OF MANURES. 119 

such mixed manure will be neither too cold nor liable to 
heat and burn. It is of manures of tliis kind that the 
French proverbs have been made: "A small manure 
heap never fills a large corn bin." "It is not he that 
sows but he that manures well that gets the crop." 
"Less seed and more manure." " Without manure there 
are no good fields ; with plenty of manure there are no 
poor ones." 

389. The best materials for litter or bedding for cattle 
and horses are straw of every kind, damaged hay, sedge, 
reeds, leaves, sawdust. If these cannot conveniently be 
had, turf may be used, or loam, or even sand, which has 
the advantage of keeping animals free from lice. It 
should be something which will help to make them warm 
in cold weather, and dry and clean at all times. Horses 
and cattle should be always kept nicely clean. Both look 
better, fare better and fatten better, when they are care- 
fully curried or carded and rubbed every day. 

It is an excellent plan to have the cellar floor of clay 
firmly rammed and made even, but sloping towards the 
middle from the sides, and from the middle towards one 
end. There, in a place easily reached, should be a hollow 
to receive the liquid from the. heap. The manure will be 
greatly benefited and prevented from heating, by pouring 
this liquid, from time to time, upon the top of the manure 
heap. Or, if the heap does not need it, it may be poured, 
with great advantage, upon compost heaps. Flemish 
manure is a liquid manure formed in a cistern, to which 
drains from the bottom of vaults bring the most valuable 
of all manures. Into this cistern water is made to run, 
which completely dissolves and dilutes whatever is in the 
vault. The liquid is sprinkled by a watering cart over 
meadows and growing crops, with striking effects. 
11* 



120 OF FERTILIZERS. 

390. A valuable liquid manure is formed by mixing 
with the liquid from the manure heap any other rich sub- 
stances with a large quantity of water, which is to be 
poured by means of the sprinkling cart upon growing 
crops. 

It can be applied, advantageously, to those fields which 
are already rich enough in humus or mould, as one great 
benefit of the application of manures in a solid form is to 
furnish a permanent reservoir for moisture, carbonic acid, 
and ammonia, and other elements of the food, of plants 
capable of being dissolved in water or of being absorbed 
by decayed vegetables, and kept ready for the use of 
plants. 

391. What is the most valuable of all manures, the 
statement of a few facts will enable you to judge. The 
principal object in view in the cultivation of all cereal 
plants, all leguminous vegetables, all fruits and nearly all 
roots, is, directly or indirectly, to furnish food for man. 
Most of the animals which he has domesticated, the sheep, 
the ox, the swine, all kinds of domestic fowls, the birds 
shot by the fowler and the fishes caught by the fisherman, 
are intended to supply his table. Now, of all these sub- 
stances, vegetable, fish, flesh and fowl, which enter into 
the human system as food or as drink, for the supply of 
man's wants or as luxuries, all, except the little which is 
used to build up and to renew his body, is thrown away 
and is usually lost. 

392. Chemical analysis entirely confirms the conclusions 
of common sense in this matter. The body itself, as is 
well known, is continually changing ; its substance is 
becoming effete and its elements are constantly renewed. 
Chemical analysis shows that all the substances which 
have been enumerated as the elements of plants, all the 



CARE OF MANURES. 121 

gases, the carbon, sulphur and phosphorus, all the alkalies 
and all the earths and metals, are not only found in the 
substance of the different parts of the human body, in 
the bones, the brain, the flesh, the tendons, the skin, and 
the delicate humors between them, but they are all found 
in those substances which have formed a part of the 
human body or have been within it, and have been cast 
out, after having performed their necessary and beneficent 
offices. 

Now all these substances, literally the concentrated 
essence of soils, of vegetable and of animal organization, 
are usually thrown away and lost. If restored to the 
soil, they would more effectually renew it, and restore its 
fertility than all other manures and amendments put 
together, and yet they are allowed to escape and to be 
utterly wasted. And not only are they wasted and lost. 
Substances which, if properly preserved and husbanded, 
would render fertile as a garden the neighborhood of all 
great towns and cities, and would keep up the fertility of 
all the farms throughout the country, are now allowed to 
flow away into drains and sewers and to poison the atmos- 
phere of towns and the waters of the rivers. There is 
scarcely any other instance of so enormous a waste. 
Chiefly in consequence of this waste, the farms, in all the 
older parts of the country, are becoming, or are already 
become, far less productive than they originally were. 
Even in those parts of New York and of the West that 
have been longest settled, though all recently settled, the 
fields are already losing their fertility from the same cause. 

393. What means ought to be employed to prevent this 
waste ? Economy, as well as regard for cleanliness and 
health, demands that measures should everywhere be 
taken to save all these substances, of every kind, liquid 



122 OP FERTILIZERS. 

and solid, to mix tliem with such substances as will ren- 
der them inoffensive, and afterwards to compost them 
with other materials for manure and to restore them to 
the soil. 

394. Many substances will prevent all disagreeable efflu- 
via; plaster, copperas, Glauber's salt, sulphuric acid, or, 
better still, Epsom salts, chloride of manganese, sulphate 
and chloride of zinc, chloride of lime, all of which sub- 
stances can be procured at a very low price. Most of 
these are completely soluble in water. Plaster is not so, 
and should therefore be put into those places only which 
are regularly and thorouglily cleared out. 

395. If the above mentioned substances and all others 
capable of being used as manure, were always carefully 
husbanded and used, there would be no necessity for the 
use of guano. 

Guano, (pronounced gooalmo,) is the Peruvian name 
for the droppings of sea-fowls, found upon certain unin- 
habited islands on the coast of Peru and of .Africa, in a 
climate not subject to rain. Guano has been accumu- 
lating there for an unknown length of time. It is found 
in deposits of great depth and is now dug out and ex- 
ported to Europe and the United States, as a substitute 
for or an adjunct to farm yard manure. Guano consists 
principally of alkaline and earthy phosphates, and of 
ammonia and ammoniacal salts or compounds capable of 
being resolved into ammonia. 

Good guano, exposed to a heat of 212°, loses not more 
than from 6 to 12 per cent, including a little ammonia. 
Poor guano, or that which is in a state of advanced 
decomposition, loses as much as 35 or even 40 per cent, 
of water. 



WELL PREPARED SOIL LOSES NO MANURE. 123 

396. Is it not very discouraging that after all the pains 
a farmer takes to fill his soil with valuable manure, it 
should be all washed away or into the deep earth by the 
rain ? It would be very discouragmg if it were true, but 
fortunately it is not true ; as is made very apparent by 
a simple experiment or two. If a funnel be filled with 
soil, and a dilute solution of silicate of potash be poured 
upon it, there will not be found in the filtered water, as it 
runs out of the funnel, a trace of potash, and, only under 
certain circumstances, silicic acid. 

If a funnel be filled with earth, and water, holding in 
solution ammonia, potash, phosphoric acid and silicic acid, 
be poured into it, none of these substances will be found 
in tlie water escaping from the funnel. The soil will have 
completely withdrawn them and incorporated them with 
itself. 

397. Or make another experiment. Take a portion of 
garden soil full of potash, silicic acid, ammonia, or phos- 
phoric acid, put it into a funnel and pour water upon it. 
The water will not dissolve out a trace of it. The most 
continuous rain cannot remove from a field, except 
mechanically, that is, unless it carry off soil and all, 
any of the essential constituents of its fertility. It is a 
common fear that the nourishing substances in liquid 
manure and in guano, will, if not immediately taken up 
by plants, be lost. But the fear is wholly unfounded. 
From liquid manure diluted with much water, or from a 
solution of guano, soil, when used in sufficient quantity, 
removes the whole of the ammonia, potash, and phos- 
phoric acid which they contain. Not a trace of these 
substances can be found in the water which flows from 
the soil. 



124 OF FERTILIZERS. 

398. It is probable that plants sometimes obtain min- 
eral elements which they need from the rocks them- 
selves ; and there are some facts which make it certain 
that they do so. We frequently find, in meadows, smooth 
lime-stones with their surfaces covered with a net work 
of small furrows ; and we find that each furrow corres- 
ponds to a rootlet, which appears as if it had eaten into 
the stone. So, lichens grow upon the surface of bare 
rocks ; and forest trees form vast trunks, full of potash 
and other salts, on the rocky soils of hills from which all 
the loose soil has been washed. It seems probable that 
their rootlets have the power of decomposing the rock 
and taking potash from the felspar or mica they find in 
tliem. — Liebig. 

399. Is it necessary that each particular element of 
plants should be present in the soil ? Or, if one be 
wanting, cannot plants be sustained by the others ? 

The agriculturist requires eight substances in his soil, 
that all the plants may flourish luxuriently, and his fields 
produce the largest crops. These eight substances are like 
eight links of a chain round a wheel. If one is weak, 
the chain is soon broken, and the missing link is always 
the most important, without which the machine cannot be 
put in motion by the wheel. The strength of the chain 
depends on the weakest of the links. — Liebig: "■ 

Those eight are phosphoric acid, potash, silicic acid, 
sulphuric acid, lime, magnesia, iron, and chloride of sodi- 
um. All these are essential to the growth of plants. 
Still more essential are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and 
carbon ; but these are always supplied by the atmosphere, 
in the form of water, ammonia and carbonic acid. 

400. If we cannot obtain stable manure or other ani- 
mal manure, how is the w^ant to be supplied ? Chemists 



COMPOSTS. 125 

know exactly what substances are contained in stable 
manure, and they are able to point out artificial manures 
which contain all these substances and may be used 
instead of stable manure ; and the most important of 
these have already been pointed out under the head of 
inorganic fertilizers. 

401. Composts. How is the stable manure to be hus- 
banded so as to go as far as possible ? One way is by 
the proper management of the compost heap. Loads of 
marsh mud, of swamp muck, of earth from bogs and the 
bottom of ponds and rivers, are to be thrown into the 
manure cellar or upon the compost heap. The manure 
heaps and the compost heaps are to be turned over and 
over, till the contents are thoroughly mixed. 

So great is the value of muck or swamp mud, for this 
purpose, that a farm is hardly to be considered complete 
without a swamp, or muck hole. Fresh turf forms a very 
valuable addition to the manure cellar and compost heap. 
This may be taken from the sides of roads and of walls 
and fences. 

Peat taken from the sea side, where it has been daily 
covered with sea water, and mixed with one seventh its 
bulk of slacked lime, heats and ferments, and produces 
excellent effects as a manure. Any peat, saturated with 
strong brine, and mixed with lime, would be equally 
effective. — Dana. 

Every farmer should make his own compost heaps, 
according to the materials he has for them, always taking 
care that no vegetable or animal substance be allowed to 
be lost. 

Mud from the bottom of lakes, ponds or pools, is always 
of much value as a material for composts, especially when 
it has been long lying there. In every piece of still water, 



126 OP FERTILIZERS. 

many animal and vegetable substances will have collected 
and been completely decomposed. The mud at the bot- 
tom will be made up of the remains of these substances 
and of earth completely saturated with their elements. 
Such mud must be full of fertilizing material. It is 
therefore a great and unnecessary waste to allow the 
scourings of hills near the homestead, and especially of 
streets and roads, to pour themselves directly into brooks 
and rivers, and to run off and be lost in the sea. A little 
care may prevent this. They may be made to pour upon 
low grounds, and a low mound of earth may detain them 
and allow them to deposit their mud. 

402. A compost for trees to be planted on meagre, 
sandy soil, should be prepared of clay well mixed with 
muck or marsh mud, and with lime or marl. For clayey 
soil one of sandy loam, light muck and lime, with a por- 
tion of barn manure. Bog earth or peat, with lime, makes 
a good compost for almost any land except boggy land. 
To each of these a most important addition is ashes, or 
potash, or substances containing potash. The leaves of 
all trees, indeed all leaves, and weeds, and the small 
branches of all shrubs, are rich in potash, and are a 
natural manure for trees. 

These, prepared long before hand, and thoroughly 
mixed with the soil, will have a surprising effect upon the 
growth of trees. 

A good compost for any common crop is made of one 
cord of barnyard manure, with two or three of muck, 
swamp mud, or loam, and ashes or potash. 

A compost which has been successfully tried by a 
careful observer is made of farmyard manure, twenty- 
five bushels, muck or mud, twenty-five bushels, and six 



COMPOSTS. 127 

bushels of leached ashes, or, in place of the ashes, one 
bushel of Imie slaked with salt water. 

A practical farmer of great experience and judgment, 
says that a good compost for hoed crops is formed of 
thirty bushels of swamp muck thoroughly mixed with 
one of guano. 

Another excellent compost, recommended by the same 
person, may be made of the same quantity of muck with 
two bushels of good bones. 

Another ; dig peat or swamp mud, in the fall. In the 
spring, mix eight bushels of ashes with every cord ; or, 
with every cord, twenty pounds of soda ash, or thirty of 
potash, dissolved and poured carefully upon the pile. 

403. Care in the management of the Manure Cellar and the 
Compost Heap essential to the health of the fanner's family. 

We have seen that ammonia, sulphuretted hydrogen 
and other gases should not be lost, as they are valuable 
as, elements of the food of plants. But there are other 
and still higher reasons why such gases should be care- 
fully prevented from coming out into the air. 

These gases, while they give life to plants, are death to 
men. Sulphuretted hydrogen is not only very disagree- 
able to the smell, but it is thought, by some persons who 
have carefully investigated, so poisonous that, if it float in 
the air breathed by human beings, even in the proportion 
of one part to 100,000, it sometimes causes death. In 
one case, " a strong, healthy man came home from his 
work and went to bed. An hour had hardly elapsed when 
he was found dead." In another mstance, a healthy child 
was taken ill in the morning and was a corpse at night. 
In both cases, the air breathed was analyzed and found to 
contain sulphuretted hydrogen. If breathed, even in 
veiy small quantities, it produces stupor, or causes a low 

12 



128 OP FERTILIZERS. 

fever, which, if the sufferer be not relieved by removal to 
perfectly pure air, may end fatally.* Carbonic acid when 
breathed in the proportion of 15 to 20 parts in 1,000 of 
air, causes immediate distress and feelings of suffocation, 
accompanied often with giddiness and headache. This is 
sometimes followed by a slight delirium and then by an 
irresistible desire to sleep.* If breathed in still larger 
quantities it not unfrequently causes death. The fumes 
of smoking charcoal, in a close room, have often been 
fatal to people sleeping in the room. 

401. The effects^ if breathed in S7naller proportions^ are 
dulness, heaviness, difficulty of thought, and apparent 
stupidity. The extreme sleepiness and dulness sometimes 
observed in children who have remained several hours in 
an ill-ventilated school-room, are, doubtless, often caused 
by the carbonic acid in the air of the room. 

This comes from the breath of the occupants of the room, 
and sometimes from the fire-place or stove. Ammonia, 
breathed when very strong, immediately takes away the 
breath. When weaker, it irritates the lungs, and, even 
when very weak, if breathed for a considerable time, it 
produces symptoms of typhoid fever. 

405. These poisonous gases are generated in drains 
and sink-holes, in heaps of dirt of any kind, in damp 
cellars and close rooms, in dirty ditches, in muddy 
puddles, swamps and undrained marshes, and wherever 
water is allowed to remain stagnant. 

These poisons show their presence by rendering the air 
disagreeable to the sense of smell. Whatever is offensive 
to this sense is more or less dangerous ; and, if foul air, 
that is, bad smelling, foetid air, be breathed, it is always 

* Dr. Taylor, as quoted bv Dr. John Bell. Third National Sanitary Conven- 
tion, p. 425. 



OFFENSIVE GASES ARE POISONOUS. 129 

more or less poisonous. The poison may act slowly, but 
not the less surely, and it renders a person who breathes 
it liable to fever, cholera, consumption and other fearful 
diseases. It is universally found that people living in 
damp and dirty places, in houses ill-ventilated, over wet 
cellars or on ground badly drained, are the first to be 
attacked by cholera, dysentery, and various kinds of fever. 

406. What has this to do with agriculture? Much. 
It shows that the farmer who looks everywhere for manure, 
and collects it carefully from all dirty places, of all kinds, 
secures his own health, and improves the health and com- 
fort of his family and of his neighbors, at the same time 
that he improves his fields and increases his crops. The 
sweepings of rooms, the scrapings of cellars, earth that 
has been long lying under barns or other buildmgs having 
no cellars, the contents of drams, cess-pools, ditches, 
bogs, dirty ponds, morasses and swamps, are all excellent 
materials 4br the compost heap. Collected together and 
covered with clay or loam, they become not only harmless 
but very valuable. 

All kmds of dirt, if allowed to remain near dwelling- 
houses, are liable to be dissolved or rendered noisome by 
the rain, and to sink into the earth and reach and con- 
taminate the water in the well. Water thus contaminated 
is not only nauseous to the smell and to the taste, but 
very unwholesome. On this account the compost heap 
should always be made at a distance from the well ; and 
beneath every such heap there should be an abundance 
of clay or loam, sufficient to absorb all the valuable 
substance that drains from the heap, and to prevent the 
moisture from sinking into the earth. 



130 OP TILLAGE. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



OF TILLAGE. 



407. In what does the preparation of soils consist ? In 
various operations, the object of which is to divide and 
mellow the soil, in order to render it permeable to air, to 
water, and to the roots of cultivated plants, and so to 
mingle all the parts of the soil that all the elements of the 
nourishment of plants may be so diffused as to be within 
the reach of the roots, and also to keep it clean and free 
from weeds. 

When the land is wet, the first and most indispensable 
of operations is draining. The essential operations after- 
wards are ploughing, diggmg, spading, harrowing and 
rolling. 

Ploughing is turning over the soil, so as to bring a 
lower portion to the surface and to place in contact with 
the subsoil the portion which had been previously exposed 
to the air. 

408. The objects of , ploughing are to mellow and pul- 
'verize the soil, to mix it, when necessary, with a portion 
of the subsoil, to mingle the different portions as fully as 
possible, to cover manures, to destroy weeds, and to keep 
the surface fresh. All these things except the two last, 
can be done more effectually with the spade, the shovel 
and the fork, than with the plough. Weeds can often be 
better destroyed and the surface be more easily kept fresh 
by the horse-hoe or the cultivator. 

Why then is the plough preferred ? Because it is so 
great a labor-saver. The ground may be more easily and 



BENEFITS OF DEEP PLOUGHING. 131 

better turned over, in long slices, and placed upside down, 
by the plough, than by any other instrument which has 
been contrived. 

409. What is the object in bringuig fresh portions of 
earth to the surface ? Soils have a remarkable property 
of attracting moisture from the air and condensing it in 
their pores. With the moisture, they at the same time 
absorb the ammonia, nitric acid and carbonic acid floating 
in the air or dissolved in the water. By long contact of 
the soil with the air the surface hardens and acts less 
efficiently, and the pores become filled. Hence the advan- 
tage of bringmg a new portion into action. 

410. Deep Ploughing extends all the benefits of tillage 
to a greater depth. It opens a larger portion of the soil 
to the beneficial action of the air and moistufe, and affords 
a larger space for the food laid up for the use of plants. It 
distributes the manure more evenly through the soil. It 
has the effects, already mentioned, (Art. 47,) of draming. 
It gives you more land to the acre, — a new farm under 
the old one. Soil deeply ploughed is less speedily 
exhausted. The roots penetrate deeper and take firmer 
hold. Grain sown on deep soil is less liable to lodge. 

If the food for plants is mixed evenly throughout the 
soil to the depth of ten or twelve inches, the roots of most 
cultivated plants will penetrate to that depth in search of 
it ; and will thus be less liable to injury from drought. 

411. Deep ploughing produces a saving of labor as well 
as of land. If a farmer who has commonly ploughed his 
field six inches deep, will plough, the present year, to the 
depth of seven inches, and will put on seven loads of 
manure where he had previously put on six, he will, 
with the same labor, get seven bushels of roots or of 
corn, where he has commonly got only si^. If then, the 

12* 



132 OF TILLAGE. 

next year, he will plough eight inches deep, instead of 
seven, and apply eight loads of manure, instead of seven, 
he will find his crops increased in that proportion, upon 
the same land and with no more labor. The next year, or 
at the beginning of the next rotation, he may, on the same 
principle, plough to the depth of nine or ten inches. 

It is only in this gradual way that the change can be 
safely made. And at each deepening, care must be taken 
to have a sufficient portion of manure put into that part of 
the earth which is last brought to the surface, in order 
that the plants while young may be made to throw out a 
great number of rootlets. This number will depend 
iipon the amount of manure near the surface, in the 
immediate neighborhood of the little plant. These root- 
lets, once formed, will penetrate into the deeper earth 
and feed upon the food there prepared for them. 

When the soil is too rich in casrbonaceous matter, burn- 
ing over the surface, and thus reducing bushes and weeds 
to ashes, is a very useful operation. We commonly get 
potash, which is so valuable to all vegetables, from the 
ashes of wood ; but the ashes of shrubs and of herbaceous 
plants contain more potash than the ashes of the same 
weight of timber. 

Land not sufficiently rich in vegetable remains should 

NEVER BE BURNT OVER. 

412. Use of thorough tillage. The more completely 
the particles of a soil are reduced to powder, the more 
readily they act on each other ; and the more evenly the 
manure is diffused through the soil, the more readily and 
immediately do the roots of plants come in contact with 
them and feed on them. The only difference to be found 
between some very rich soils in Ohio and some very poor, 
was the fact that, in the rich soils, the same mineral con- 



VALUE OF TILLAGE. — SUBSOILING. 133 

stitueiits were in the state of the finest powder. All 
mineral substances combine with oxygen and with each 
other the more readily in proportion as they are reduced 
to more minute particles. 

413. Most people are wholly unaware of the value of 
tillage. As a general rule, we may say, the more com- 
pletely and frequently the soil is stirred the better. Far- 
mers are apt to think that the great advantage of hoeing 
and cultivating with the plough, the harrow and tlie cul- 
tivator, between rows of corn or other crop, is the destruc- 
tion of weeds. This doubtless is indispensable. But in 
reality, the improvement of the soil by continually expos- 
ing fresh portions to the air, by thoroughly mixing it, and 
thus preparing for future crops, is of not less value than 
the weeding. Though, doubtless, there may be danger 
of too frequently turning dry soils in a season of drought. 

414. Subsoiling is cultivating with a plough which does 
not turn a furrow, but penetrates to some distance below 
the furrow already turned and loosens the soil down 
there. It sometimes adds one third to the crop raised. 
By stirring and loosening the earth to a considerable 
depth, it makes it retentive of moisture to that depth, 
and, with moisture, of all that accompanies moisture mto 
the earth, and makes it easy for the roots to penetrate and 
reach them. 

If the roots of a plant do not penetrate so deeply, their 
food, deep in the earth, reaches them by capillary attrac- 
tion. This draws the moisture, and all that the moisture 
contains, up towards the surface. A part of it is taken 
up by the plants, and the remainder, as the moisture 
evaporates, is left near the surface to be still farther acted 
upon by the air. 



Vd^ PREPARATION OF LANDS. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PREPARATION OF LANDS. 

415. A texture or mechanical condition of the soil 
favorable to plant growth is especially necessary. The 
mechanical condition of the soil is its condition in respect 
to looseness or compactness, hardness or mellowness, 
coarseness or fineness, without reference to the chemical 
substances contained in it. 

416. Few soils are naturally in the mechanical condition 
best suited for cultivation, though different soils vary very 
much in this respect. Hence it is as necessary to use the 
right means to put the soil into the proper mechanical 
condition, as to apply manure to improve the land in the 
other modes above referred to. 

417. The soil must be mellow, so that the roots of 
plants can penetrate freely and the air can circulate 
through it, but still firm enough to hold the roots in their 
position. It must admit the heat of the sun, and yet 
hold moisture enough for the wants of the plant. 

418. Most soils require to be well pulverized before 
they allow the roots of plants to penetrate and grow 
freely, or permit the circulation of the atmospheric air, 
and if they are not so pulverized and mellow, they do 
not readily take up and carry off the water which falls in 
rain or comes from other sources. This water often 
washes away the surface of the soil, or remains stagnant, 
causing much injury to vegetation. 

419. The manner in which land must be prepared for 
cultivation, differs very much in different cases, varying 



CLEARING UP. 135 

according to the condition in which it is found when its 
improvement is first begun. The processes most fre- 
quently found necessary are clearing, draining, plougliing, 
harrowing and rolling. 

420. Clearing is generally required in a new country, 
or when new land or woodland is to be cultivated. In 
these cases the soil rarely allows even the most ordinary 
operations of farming. It is often covered with trees or 
forests, or with rocks which would interfere very much 
with successful tillage. 

421. The term clearing, in a new country, is applied 
to the cutting down and burning or removing of all the 
timber and brushwood - from the lot. This is simple, 
though hard work. The trees are felled, if possible, in 
June, when in full leaf, and the ground may be burned 
over in season to sow in a crop of winter rye upon the 
surface. This is the case in remote sections where the 
timber has so little value as not to pay for removal, and 
where it is usually burned on the ground. But in other 
locations, the wood may be cut and removed in winter, 
and the work of clearing continued the following summer. 
Sometimes on account of its situation, the cleared land 
must be devoted to pasturage. In these cases grass seed 
is sown along with the rye, and cattle turned upon it the 
following season. But generally the sides of steep hills, 
or land so rough that it cannot be cleared and prepared 
for cultivation except at great expense, should be kept for 
woodland. 

422. The next step in preparing wild lands for farming, 
is to remove the stumps and stones. Several simple 
machines have been constructed to do this, by which a 
powerful leverage or purchase is gained, so as to raise a 
stump or stone of several tons weight from its bed. A 



136 



PREPARATION OF LANDS. 



convenient and cheap form of stump puller is Bates' 
patent, shown in figure 2, and one of the best forms of a 
stone lifter in figure 3. 




Fig. 2. 




Fig. 3. 

423. It often happens that the surface is completely 
matted with roots of bushes, and so hard as to be impen- 




TREATMENT OF COLD SOILS. 137 

etrable to the plough in pasture 
or waste lands which it is designed 
to clear up. In such cases a stout 
grapple represented in figure 4 is 
found extremely useful in remov- 
ing the surface which may be Fig. 4. 
burned pre^dous to ploughing. 

424. Much land is so situated as to require thorough 
draining before it can be cultivated at all to advantage. 
The object of draining is to remove an excess of moisture 
from the soil. 

425. Water standing stagnant in the soil diminishes 
the good effects of manures very much by preventing 
decomposition, makes it impossible to work lands early in 
the spring, prevents seeds from germinating, or makes 
them germinate more slowly, and delays the ripening of 
crops, lessening their quantity and making their quality 
inferior. 

426. An excess of water in the soil also excludes the 
air. This is injurious, because the air does much to pro- 
mote the chemical changes in the mineral parts of the 
earth which are necessary to the growth of plants, and 
converts the organic materials in the soil into vegetable 
acids which give it the name of " sour" or "cold" soil. 

427. Drainage is effected either by opening channels 
on the surface, or by means of covered drains. Open 
drains are sometimes very useful, but are liable to serious 
objections. The water which enters them, carries with it 
many of the substances which make the soil fertile, which 
are thus lost. Besides, such drains are not nearly as 
useful as covered ones, while they interfere with a proper 
cultivation ; they leave a great deal of water in the soil, 
weeds are very apt to grow along their sides, and they 



138 



PREPARATION OF LANDS. 



take up a great deal of ground which might otherwise be 
made productive. 

428. Underdrains avoid these objections, and are more 
economical. They may be constructed either of stones 
or of tiles made for the purpose. The tiles are altogether 
better, both because they can be laid down at less ex- 
pense, and because they last longer. They are also less 
liable to get stopped up. 

429. To lay a stone drain properly, a large trench must 
be dug. This requires great labor, and such a drain 
should not be made unless there are a great many small 
stones on the surface of the land which the farmer wishes 
to get rid of, and even then the tile drain costs less and is 
more economical in most cases. The different modes 
of laying a stone drain are shown in figures 5, 6, and 7. 





Fig. 5. 



Fig. 6. 



Fig. 7. 



430. In laying down the tile drain, the trench may be 
very narrow, a width of a foot at the top and four inches 
at the bottom being sufficient, as in figure 8. It is dug by 
a spade and hoes made for the purpose, and illustrated in 
figures 9 and 10. 



THE TILE DRAIN. 



139 




ll!lllllilllllllIlin|i!lHlliillll! 








^ 



\^- 



Fig. 9. 



Fig. 10. 




431. The tile drain is not only more economical, but it 
carries off the water better and lasts longer. If the stones 
were picked up and placed at the edge of the trench 
without any expense, the drain made of them would be 
less economical in the end than one made of tiles which 
cost flO or f 12 per thousand. 

432. The pipe tile, (Fig. 11",) a simple round 
tube, is found to be the best in shape. For 
the interior drahis which enter into the larger 
main drains, a tube of two inches in diameter 
is about the right size. 

433. The fall should not be less than one inch to the 
rod. A drain properly laid in this way may be expected to 
last and answer a good purpose for half a century. 

434. The sole tiles made m this country, shown in figure 
11*, are not so good because they must necessarily be laid 
sole down, and if they happen to be warped in burning, 
as they often are, it is difficult to get a perfectly straight 
and reliable water course. 

435. The brush drain is sometimes made by digging a 

13 



Fig. 11. 



140 



PREPARATION OF LANDS. 





trench and filling up to a certain depth with small brush. 
When this is attempted, the sticks should all be laid with 

the larger ends down, as 

shown in figure 12. The 

Fig. 12. brush is then thoroughly 

pressed down and covered over with sods 

^^ with the turf or grass side down. This 

^B| i J is better than none ; but it is never to 

^■i ^ be recommended" where good tiles can 

^B H be got. The same may be said of log 

drains which are made by laying down 
two logs in the trench with a third upon 
them, as in figure 13. The earth must 
be pressed down solid over a stone, brush 
or log drain. 

Fig. 13. ^gg^ rpj^g distance apart at which the 

drains should be laid will depend on the character of the 
soil. In a soil which is stiff and holds water long, it might 
not be well to have them more than twenty-five feet apart, 
while a more porous soil might be sufiiciently drained 
if they were thirty or forty feet apart, or even more. 

437. The depth of the trench must depend somewhat 
on the distance between the drains. Trenches three feet 
deep and twenty feet apart, have been found to do as well 
as those five feet deep and eighty feet apart. In general 
the depth should be from three to four feet. 

438. Thorough draining makes the soil more open and 
causes a more free circulation of air through it, thus 
preventing it from drying up so soon. The air is at all 
times charged with moisture, and as it comes in contact 
with the particles of soil, this moisture is condensed and 
deposited there, just as we see it deposited on the cold 
sides of a pitcher of ice water m a hot day. Drainage 



EFFECTS OF DRAINING. 



141 



also deepens the arable soil and makes it more easy for 
plants to extend their roots. 

439. The atmosphere is charged with fertilizing ele- 
ments as well as with moisture, and as it circulates freely 
in the soil, these elements are taken up and retained to 
serve as plant food. 

440. The soil having become more porous by the 
removal of water and the admission of air among its 
particles, its temperature is raised in consequence, that is 
the soil is made warmer and warmed to a greater depth. 

441. A higher temperature in the soil hastens forward 
the growth of plants, and thus often makes the ripening 
several days earlier. • 

442. The texture or me- 
chanical condition of most 
stiff soils is improved by 
simply draining, and they 
are thus made capable of 
being worked earlier in 
spring and after long rains, 
while the growth of plants r 
is stronger and more vigor- V 
ous. The difference may be ^ 
seen in figures 14 and 15, the 
former showing the effect ^^* * ^^' 

of draining and warming the surface soil, a, causing the 
roots to penetrate even into the moisture below the drained 
level at b^ the latter, the same species of plant on an 
undrained and unsuitable soil. 

443. After the land is properly cleared, it must next be 
made ready for planting. In the first place the soil must 
be mellowed or broken up fine to a proper depth. 

444. The spade, the plough, the harrow and the roller, 





xA^( 



142 PEEPARATION OF LANDS. 

are the implements most often used in effecting tliis 
object. 

445. The spade or spading fork is the simplest form of 
these implements, and consists of a blade or tines of iron 
or steel fixed into a straight handle. It is worked by 
hand. Cultivation by its use is the slowest and most 
expensive mode of tillage, and is adapted chiefly to the 
nice operations of the garden. 

446. The com- 
mon plough, 
(Fig. 16,) is the 
implement most 
#g|J^'|Av,' commonly used 
'^^.<^^.^,:i:^^'':::~^^^^*'':^ breaking up 

^ig- 16. ' the land, and is 

the most economical instrument that can be used for the 
purpose. Without the plough successful farmhig would 
be impossible in a country where labor is very high and 
difficult to obtain. 

447. In passing through the soil the plough separates 
and cuts off a slice of its surface, cutting it both vertically 
and horizontally, and turning it over in such a way as to 
leave it exposed to the action of the harrow, wliich usually 
follows the plough to break down and pulverize the soil 
completely. 

448. The furrow made by the common plough should 
be deep, straight, and of such a width that the slice cut 
off may be turned entirely over, or left on its edge, as the 
ploughman may wish. 

449. The depth is of the greatest importance, though 
experience has shown that it is best to deepen the arable 
soil gradually, by ploughing about an inch or half an inch 
deeper each time, till it is worked deep enough, say from 



DEEP PLOUGHING. 



143 



seven to ten or twelve inches, according to the crops it is 
designed to cultivate. 

450. If much of a poor subsoil should be brought up 
to the surface at once, the farmer would have to wait two, 
three, or even four years before he would obtain the 
largest results, though after that time the good effects of 
deep tillage would be seen. 

451. Deep ploughing has much the same effect as 
thorough draining, though in a less degree. It enables 
the roots of plants to penetrate deeply in search of nour- 
ishment, carries off more or less of the surface water, 
warms the soil, and without doubt makes it more fertile 
by allowing the air to circulate through it, and by a 
mixture of the soils of different depths. Besides, deep 
ploughing makes it much easier to do the other work 
which is necessary in preparing the soil for planting, and 
increases the effect of all manures which are applied. 

452. Deep ploughing is especially needed in the culti- 
vation of deep or tap-rooted plants like carrots, parsnips, 
and ruta-bagas, but it is beneficial to all crops if it is 
properly done. 

453. The subsoil 
plough, (Figs. 17 and 
18,) is designed to fol- 
low in the furrow of 
the common plough, to 
loosen and break up the 
lower layers of the soil 
without bringing them 
to the surface. With this 
implement it is easy to 
loosen the subsoil six or 
eight inches below the 
furrow left by the ordi- 

13* 




Fig. 18. 



144 



PREPARATION OF LANDS. 



nary plough, making the whole depth to which the land is 
stirred, from eighteen to twenty-four mches. 

454. The benefits of subsoil ploughing are very similar 
to those of deep ploughing. Recent investigations show 
that nitrogen and other fertilizing substances exist 'deep 
below the surface. Subsoil ploughing enables the roots of 
plants to reach them by loosenmg the soil to a greater 
depth. 

455. A very excellent 
implement known as 
the Michigan, or double 
mould-board plough, 
(Fig. 19,) is designed to 
obviate the necessity of 
the subsoil plough, to 
some extent. The smaller mould-board cuts off a thin 
surface and turns it into the last furrow, where it is 
completely covered with a finely pulverized soil by the 
principal mould-board. 





Fig. 20. 

456. An implement designed to supersede the use of 
the plough in many soils, is known as the digger, (Fig. 20.) 



USE OF THE ROLLER. 



145 




Fig. 21. 



It leaves 'the ground mellow like the fork, and in good 
condition for the cultivation of crops. 

45T. The harrow, (Fig. 21,) is an 
ancient implement, and is most com- 
monly used after the plough, to 
break down and mellow or pulverize 
the furrow slice. It should be moved 
rapidly over the soil. It has been 
very much improved within a few 
years. 

458. The cultivator, (Fig. 22,) may 
properly be regarded as a modified 
form of the harrow, but it is much 
better than the harrow, 
because with its plough 
shaped teeth, it lightens 
up and mellows the 
surface soil, mstead of 
pressing it down hard, 
as the harrow is apt to 
do every where except 
on new, rough land. 

459. The roller is often used to pulverize the surface 
soil. It has so largo a surface to rest on the soil, that it 
crushes and breaks up clods without hardening the lower 
strata. 

460. In laying down lands to grass, it is often useful 
m pressing down small stones, so as to get them out of 
the way of the scythe. It is often useful, also, on newly 
sown grain, and hastens the germination of seeds, by 
preserving the moisture around them. 

461. But clayey soils should never be rolled except 
when they are perfectly dry, and for the purpose of 




Fig. 22. 



146 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

breaking the lumps left by the plough. Rolling stiff soils 
when wet, would only make them too hard and compact, 
and thus do them more harm than good. 



CHAPTER XY. 

SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

462. Moisture, warmth, and exposure to the air, to 
some extent, are needed to make the seeds of plants 
germinate healthfully. Light is not necessary ; on the 
contrary, it is believed. to interfere in some degree with 
the process of germination. 

463. The seed is buried in a properly prepared soil, 
where the moisture soon softens it throughout, and certain 
chemical changes take place, by which the mealy parts 
are prepared to nourish the swelling germ. 

464. A radical shoot or rootlet first bursts its covering, 
and invariably grows down, fixing itself in the soil, 
while a stalk shoots up towards the air and light in which 
it expands its leaves. 

465. By means of its leaves, which serve as its lungs, 
the plant draws much nourishment from the air. There 
are a great many small openings or pores in the leaves, 
which are most numerous on the under side. On a 
single square inch of the leaf of the common lilac, there 
are no less than one hundred and twenty thousand of 
these little mouths, and on an inch of the white lily 
there are sixty thousand. They are found in great 




REQUISITES OF PLANT GROWTH. 147 

numbers on the leaves of all plants. A 
magnified portion of the leaf of the grape 
is shown in fig*ure 23. 

466. All plants come from seeds, in the 
first place, and the farmer usually sows 
or plants the seeds of the plants he wishes -pj 23 
to have ; but in some cases tubers or bulbs 

are placed in the ground and new plants spring from 
them. A tuber is a thickened portion of a stalk or stem 
under ground, having buds or eyes, as the potato and the 
artichoke. A bulb is a collection of fleshy scales formed 
under ground by certain kinds of plants, as the tulip, the 
onion, and the lily. 

467. Generally the seeds are sown where the plant is 
to remain. But sometimes they are started in a carefully 
prepared seed-bed, from which they are transplanted to 
the field, where they can grow up to better advantage. 
This is done to bring them forward earlier. 

468. For their complete development, all cultivated 
plants must have a deep, mellow soil, and care enough 
to prevent them from being injured by weeds or insects 
while they are growing. The farmer must also attend to 
the choice of seeds, taking only those which are good and 
still have the power of germination, and must consider 
how much seed he is to use, how he should prepare it, 
the time and manner of sowing, and the depth to which 
the seed should be covered. 

469. Choice of Seed. An imperfect seed may still be 
capable of germination and may produce plants, which 
appear to grow well at first, but such plants will have a 
sickly and imperfect growth, especially at the time of 
flowering,- and they will produce little grain and that of 
an inferior quality. 



148 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

470. With the same soil, chmate and cultivation, the 
most perfect seed will produce the finest crop. No seed 
is likely to produce a healthy and vigorous plant, unless 
it came from a strong and healthy plant itself, was fully 
ripened, and is so fresh that its power of germination is 
still uninjured. 

471. Good seed may be known by its weight, its size, 
its glossy surface, and its freedom from any disagreeable 
odor. Plumpness and weight indicate that it was produced 
by a vigorous plant ; a glossy covering shows it to be 
healthy, and the absence of odor shows that it has been 
well preserved. 

472. To learn whether the germinating power still 
exists, we may take two pieces of thick cloth, moisten 
them with water, and place them one above the other in 
the bottom of a saucer. Then take some of the seeds, 
spread them out thin upon the cloths, not allowing them 
to cover or touch each other. Cover them over with a 
third cloth like the others, and moistened in the same 
manner. Set the saucer in a moderately warm place, and 
moisten the cloths from time to time, taking care not to 
use too much water. Good seed, thus treated, will swell 
gradually, while old or poor seed which has lost its 
germinating power, will become mouldy and begin to 
decay in a very few days. 

473. Such a trial enables the farmer to judge whether 
old seed is mixed with new. The new germinates much 
more quickly than the old. It enables him, also, to judge 
of the quantity he must sow, since he can thus tell whether 
a half, three-quarters, or tlie Avhole will be likely to 
germinate, and will know what allowance to make for 
bad seed. Clover seeds, if new and fresh, will show their 
germs the third or fourth day. 



VITALITY OP SEED. 149 

474. The seeds of some plants continue good much 
longer than those of others. Those of many wild plants, 
for instance, will lie for many years without losing their 
goodness, if they happen to be in such a place that they 
cannot germinate, and afterwards when they have heat 
and moisture, and other conditions necessary for germi- 
nation, they will produce plants. 

475. In digging wells, or in other deep excavations, 
species of plants not before known in the place, often spring 
up from the earth thrown out. These seeds must have 
been lying in the earth many years, unable to grow 
because the heat and air could not reach them. 

476. The seeds of the turnip, if kept in a dry, cool 
place, continue good several years, and will germinate 
nearly as well when five years old as when only one or 
two. But the seeds of the grasses are comparatively 
worthless when two years old, since few of them will then 
germinate. Age, heat, moisture and fermentation, are 
most injurious to seeds. 

477. Change of Seed. Most of our cultivated plants 
originally grew wild, and in their natural state were much 
less valuable than they now are. They have been brought 
up to their present condition, and made far more useful 
for the nourishment of men and animals, by careful 
cultivation for many years. In all these plants there is a 
natural tendency to lose what they have gained, and fall 
back to their original condition. This can be prevented 
in some degree by constant care in the selection of seed 
and high cultivation ; but experience shows that in some 
places these plants will gradually lose their best qualities, 
however much care may be used to guard against it. 

478. To avoid the evils of sowing inferior seed, we may 
use that produced in other localities, where special care 



150 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

is taken to raise it in the highest perfection and purity. 
In general, seeds should be preferred which were raised 
on a soil poorer than that where they are to be sown. 

479.. When both soil and climate are favorable, the 
necessity of frequent change may be avoided by good 
cultivation, and by taking the seeds from the best and 
most vigorous plants, when they are fully ripe, and drying 
and preserving them properly. Where this can be done 
without danger of deterioration, it is far better, since the 
farmer knows better what he is to sow. Where the species 
of plants cultivated are very similar to each other, and 
liable to hybridization or mixture, care must be taken to 
keep them so far separated as to preserve their purity. 

480. The maxim that " Like produces like," so well 
known among farmers, may be true to some extent in 
regard to most of the cultivated plants of the farm, but 
we constantly see instances where the fruit of the plant 
which grows from a seed, is different from that of the 
plant which produced the seed sown ; very common 
examples of this change are seen in the apple and other 
fruits, and the potato when raised from the seed. In our 
common cultivated grains, the difference, if there is any, 
is slight. 

481. In a large field of wheat, a few specimens might 
be found among the millions of plants, which would differ 
from the seed planted. By carefully selecting these and 
planting them by themselves, new varieties may be 
obtained and preserved distinct. 

482. So by taking care to select our seed corn from the 
ears which ripen earliest, we can get early varieties. If 
we choose seeds from the largest ears, and plant them by 
themselves, we shall obtain large varieties ; and many 
persons think that if we take our seeds from those plants 



ORIGIN OF VARIETIES. 151 

which have several ears on a stalk, we may thus make 
very prolific varieties. . 

483. In these and similar cases, the change or modifi- 
cation from the original to the new variety is not generally 
sudden, and soon accomplished, but is most commonly 
slow and gradual. The seed must be carefully selected 
year after year, till the desired change is fixed and firmly 
established. New and somewhat permanent varieties may 
be thus obtained. 

484. But the case is different when we cultivate pota- 
toes and other tubers, since we do not usually plant the 
seed in such cases, the tubers being only an enlargement 
of the stem beneath the soil, and when plants grow from 
their buds or eyes, — as they do in the ordinary manner 
of raising potatoes, the same variety is extended or 
increased with no change of character. 

485. New and distinct varieties of the potato may be 
produced to any extent by sowing the seeds of the plant. 
Thus the chenango, the pinkeye, and other varieties, were 
first obtained from seed taken from the ripe bolls of other 
varieties. After a new variety has been once made in 
that way, it may be continued and kept up by planting 
the tubers in the usual way. 

486. If a vine is produced from a layer of another 
vine, the new vine is only a portion of the old one, and 
can never become a new and distinct variety ; and so in 
budding or grafting, the new growth is only a portion of 
the same old tree from which the scion was taken, and 
has precisely the same character as the tree from which 
the bud ©r graft came, except so far as it may have been 
changed by the difference of soil or locality. But if the 
seeds of the apple or of the grape are sown, new varieties 
are obtained at once. 

14 



152 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

487. Quantity of Seed. The plants should cover the 
whole ground, each having just room enough to allow 
its full and complete development and no more. To 
learn how much seed will be necessary for this we 
must consider the character of the soil, its preparation, 
its fertility and the time of sowing. The quality of 
the seed, the extent to which it is apt to tiller or send 
up side shoots, and the manner of sowing must be 
taken into account; also the habits of growth of the 
plant — whether it is large and rank or otherwise, and 
the mode of tillage to be adopted — all these must be 
regarded. 

488. The richer the soil and the more manure there is 
used, the ranker the plant will grow. The ranker the 
growth the more space will it require for its full develoi> 
ment. On the other hand, in a poorer soil, the plant will 
grow less rankly, so that more seed will be required to 
cover the ground with plants on poor and scantily manured 
land than on rich land well manured. 

489. The better the seed the less will be required. If 
the climate and soil are very favorable to the plant, a 
smaller quantity of seed will be needed, since a larger 
number of plants will grow from the same quantity of 
seed. So the earlier the sowing is finished, the less seed 
may be used provided the season is favorable. 

490. If the soil is perfectly clean and free from weeds 
less seed is necessary. Much also depends on the distri- 
bution of it, and the more uniformly it is spread the less 
is required. For this reason hand or broad-cast sowing 
requires more seed than machine or drill so^ng. In 
general, it may be said that winter wheat and rye, and 
other winter grains, require less seed than the spring 
varieties. 



PREPARATION OF SEEDS. 153 

491. Other tilings being equal, thin sown crops ripen 
later than thick sown ones. The greater the space allowed 
each plant the more vigorous will be its development, and 
consequently, the slower its growth. In thick sown crops 
the growth is more quickly finished, and though the stalk 
may be rank the ear will be smaller, and the number of 
grains to a stalk less than in thin sown crops. By thick 
sowing we gain in time, but lose, to some extent, in 
quality. 

492. Steeping Seeds. Some farmers are in the habit of 
soaking the seed in warm water, or in some solution like 
carbonate of ammonia, lime water, chloride of sodium or 
brine, partly to hasten its germination and partly to supply 
the place of manure. When the sowing has been delayed 
till after the proper time, this practice may be useful, 
but it is better to sow or plant at the right season, and so 
avoid the necessity of any thing of the sort to make the 
seed germinate more quickly, and as a substitute for manur- 
ing the land properly, this practice is of very Uttle benefit. 

493. The moisture of the soil is best adapted to nourish 
the germ, and the growth of the plant through the season 
will, generally, be more healthy without the use of any 
artificial preparation. 

494. Time of Planting. The time of planting varies 
according to the season and the nature of the plant. 
Some grains, for instance, will endure a great degree of 
cold during the early period of their growth. It is gen- 
erally considered better to sow these in autumn, and 
sprmg sowing would not do well. Others cannot bear 
much cold and should not be sown till spring. The con- 
dition of the soil, also, makes a great difference. A dry, 
warm soil is ready for planting much earlier in spring 
than a cold, clayey one. 



154 



495. The time of sowing should be suited to the nature 
of the particular plant we wish to cultivate. Indian 
corn, barley and buckwheat, for example, should be 
planted when the ground is dry and warmed by the heat 
of the sun, while certain kinds of wheat and oats do 
better when sown in a colder soil. 

496. Winter grains shoiild be sown earlier on heavy 
soils than on sandy ones, and earlier in a cool, moist 
climate than in a dry, warm one. There is no general 
rule as to the time of sowing which can be applied to all 
cases, and the farmer must always be governed by the 
circumstances of his own case. 

497. Depth of Covering. The seed should be covered to 
such a depth as to secure the amount of heat, moisture 
and air, necessary for its germination. This depth varies 
with the kind of plant, the nature of the soil, the climate 
and the time of planting. 

498. It is evident that on a clay soil which is less easily 
penetrated by air and warmth, the seed should be covered 
less deeply than on a sandy one. Spring planting ordi- 
narily requires greater depth than autumn. 

499. Very small seeds require only a shallow covering, 
and in many cases, a simple rolling without the use of 
the harrow, is sufficient to secure perfect germination. 
In common farm cultivation great losses often occur from 
covering seed too deeply, especially the smaller seeds, 
as those of the grasses and the clovers. 

500. Modes of Sowing. The broad cast or hand sowing 
is the most common for the smaller gTains. Another and 
a better method is by the use of the seed sower or drilling 
machine. By the first a greater amount of seed is 
required, while it is difficult, even for a skilful workman, 
to distribute the seed equally. By the second, the seed 



ADVANTAGE OF DRILL SOWING. 155 

is not only uniformly distributed, but may be sown in 
drills, which has some decided advantages over broad cast 
sowing, especially for wheat. Winter wheat sown in the 
drill is less likely to be thrown out by the frosts, because 
it is more uniformly covered and better rooted. 

501. Any concentrated manure may be put into the 
ground with the seed, and the growth of the plant may 
thus be promoted. A larger yield is secured in propor- 
tion to the quantity of seed sown, and a larger yield per 
acre. Drill sowing, or sowing in rows, also allows culti- 
vation by a machine admirably adapted to this purpose, 
if the crop needs it, during the early part of its growth. 

502. When seeds of any kind are sown broad cast by 
hand, they may be covered by the plough, the harrow, the 
cultivator or the roller. The larger seeds, like Indian 
corn, are usually dropped by hand and covered with the 
hoe, but they may be dropped and covered by seed sowers 
made expressly for the purpose. When a large extent 
of land is to be planted the machine is far more economi- 
cal. Indeed, it is often necessary to use it to save time 
and labor. Seed sowers are used only on land properly 
prepared by ploughing, manuring and harrowing. They 
are made to drop the seed either in hills or in rows, 
according to the wish of the farmer. 

503. If the machine is not used the ground is first 
prepared by ploughing and harrowing, and furrowed three 
or four feet apart, according to the kind of corn to be 
planted, with a light horse-plough ; the manure is dropped 
in the hills at suitable distances, and the seed then dropped 
upon it by hand and covered with the hoe. 

504. It is generally found best, especially on late lands, 
to spread and plough in a part of the manure, and to 
drop the remainder in the hills. The manure in the hills 

14* 



156 SOWING, PLANTING, ETC. 

gives the crop a vigorous start at the outset, while that 
which is ploughed in^ being better distributed in the soil, 
has its effect afterwards, and the crop does far better in 
the end than it would if the whole were placed in the hill. 
The land is also left in a better condition for a future 
crop where the manure is spread. Many use some con- 
centrated manure in the hill, and plough or harrow in 
the coarser barnyard manures. 

505. Transplanting. Transplanting is the removal of 
a plant from the place where it has grown to another. 
The seeds of many plants, as those of tobacco, cabbages, 
and many varieties of shrubs and trees, are often sown 
in a place prepared for the purpose, and the plants spring- 
ing from them afterwards transplanted to the fields where 
they are to grow. 

506. This mode of culture has several advantages : it 
confines the expense of the early culture to a small space, 
while the seed is placed in the best condition for its early 
and rapid development ; it also gives more time for the 
preparation of the land in which the crops are to be 
raised. 

507. To make transplanting successful, the plants 
should be strong and vigorous. They may be made so 
by preparing the seed-bed thoroughly and taking care to 
prevent them from being crowded by each other or 
injured by weeds, after they have sprung up. They 
should be removed very carefully, all injury to the roots 
being avoided, otherwise they will suffer much from the 
removal. 

508. While the plants are young there is little danger 
in transplanting, and if they are set out in a mellow and 
well manured soil at a favorable time, they will contmue 
to grow with only a slight temporary check. 



TRANSPLANTING. 157 

509. Ill removing older plants, like trees and shrubs, 
which have been undisturbed for a long time, the utmost 
care is required iu taking them up, to prevent the loss of 
the small fibrous roots which often extend to great 
distances from the trunk. 

510. The growth of the stem, or that part of the trunk 
above ground with its leaves and branches, is in propor- 
tion to the extent of the roots, and the injury which the 
latter sustain in transplantmg may be counteracted, in a 
measure by trimming off a corresponding portion of the 
top. 

511. The laceration or breaking of the roots checks 
the growth of the top in proportion to the injury or loss 
of the root. In the natural condition of the tree there 
are only roots enough to absorb the nourishment required 
by it, and when a part of the root is cut off, or seriously 
injured, the remaining part cannot, of course, furnish sap 
enough for the whole tree. In this case, if a part of the 
top is removed, less sap is required, the remaining roots 
can supply all that is necessary, and the tree may thus be 
saved. 

512. One method of obtaining good shrubs and trees 
for ornamental purposes, is to sow the seeds in beds prop- 
erly prepared. The soil used for this purpose should be 
deeply trenched and richly manured to promote rapid 
growth. It is most convenient to lay out the beds from 
three to five feet wide, and to have the rows run across. 
Early autumn is generally thought to be the best time for 
sowing, though some prefer mid-summer. The seeds of 
each species may be sown soon after they have become 
fully ripe. 



158 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

CHAPTER XYI. 

CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

513. The plants generally cultivated by farmers may 
be divided into four classes: 1. The cereals or grain 
plants, comprising the plants cultivated for their large 
farinaceous, or mealy seeds ; 2. Leguminous vegetables ; 
3. Forage plants, or plants used principally in the feed- 
ing of stock ; and 4. Plants used in the industrial arts. 

514. The Cereals. The term cereal is derived from 
Ceres, the fabled goddess of corn. The cereals embrace 
all those annual grasses cultivated for the nourishment of 
man, including Indian corn, wheat, rye, barley, oats, rice 
and millet. Buckwheat might be added, in a practical 
classification, though not properly included among the 
cereals, as its seeds have much the same quality and are 
used for the same purposes as those of the cereals properly 
so called. 

515. Indian Com, or maize, is one of the most important 
of the cereals cultivated in this country, both on account 
of the numerous uses to which it may be put, and the 
great amount of nourishment it contains. It is an 
American plant, and was found in cultivation among the- 
Indians on the first discovery of the continent. 

516. Light and porous loams a little sandy, are most 
likely, if well tilled, to yield large crops of Indian corn. 
But it easily adapts itself to a variety of soils, and will 
flourish on all if well manured, except the strongest 
clays. 

517. Land should be prepared for Indian corn, in very 
much the same way as for other crops, and the preparation 



INDIAN CORN. 159 

must vary according to the crops for which the piece has 
been used and the state it is left ui. If the field that is 
to be planted with corn has been in grass for some years, 
it should be well ploughed the autumn before the planting, 
and then left till spring, when it will be partially mellowed 
and may be cross ploughed, manured, harrowed and 
planted. 

518. But stiff, undrained soils, and lands lying on the 
slopes of hills liable to be washed down by the rains, 
should, if possible, be broken up in the spring instead 
of the fall, as the sward will not rot, and if turned up in 
cross ploughmg in sprmg, will be troublesome during the 
cultivation of the crop. 

519. The manures used with this crop must be varied 
according to the character of the soil. On light, well 
worked and mellowed land, old and well decomposed barn- 
yard manure or compost is best, but if the soil is stiffer 
and somewhat clayey the coarser barnyard manures may 
be used to advantage, as they improve the texture of the 
soil and produce heat by fermentation. 

520. It is generally thought best to plough in the coarse 
manures in the fall, as they thus become decomposed and 
prepare the ground for spring planting. They may be 
turned under on the sod or on a grain stubble. But if the 
ground is level they may be spread upon the furrow, after 
fall ploughing, and left over winter to be turned under in 
cross ploughing in spring. 

521. In cross ploughing, the sod turned under the 
autumn before should not be disturbed. If the manure 
is ploughed under in the fall, some finer compost should 
also be used in spring to be spread on the furrows after 
cross ploughing, and harrowed or cultivated in. If the 
soil be stiff and cold, such as is ill adapted to Indian corn, 



160 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

a portion of the fine manure or compost should be placed 
in the hill. 

522. The Indian corn plant is a gross feeder, and needs 
a great deal of manure unless the land is very rich. If 
all this manure is put into the hills, the labor and expense 
of application and the care of the crop through its whole 
growth will be increased, on account of the hilling up 
around the corn made necessary by putting so much in 
the hill. 

523. Another objection to putting much coarse manure 
in the hill is that the plant is more liable to suffer from 
drought, and the land is not benefited to so great an 
extent as when a part of the manure is spread or evenly 
distributed through the soil. 

524. Some spread and plough in the coarser manures, 
and use some concentrated fertilizer in the hill to give the 
crop an early and vigorous start. No doubt a judicious 
use of concentrated manures is good economy, and in 
some circumstances it may be well to use them more 
freely, but they are not to be recommended in all cases, 
as their cost is frequently greater than the profit which 
may be made from their use. 

525. To raise corn profitably the land must be in good 
condition ; it may be made so by the use of a sufiicient 
quantity of manure at the time of planting, or by long- 
continued and judicious manuring previously. It is not 
worth while to raise poor crops. It requires about as 
much labor in ploughing, hoeing and harvesting, to raise 
thirty or forty bushels per acre, as to raise from sixty to 
seventy-five bushels per acre, and the profit is greater witli 
the larger crop. 

526. In the culture of Indian corn, as of many other 
crops, the one thing especially important is thorough and 



ARRANGEMENT OF THE HILLS. 161 

careful ploughing in the first place. There can be no 
successful cultivation of this crop without it. 

527. The land having been fully prepared by repeated 
ploughing, manuring and harrowing, the next step will 
be to plant the seed. This may be done by hand or by a 
machine. If the grains are to be dropped and covered 
by hand, the rows are marked out by furrows made with 
a light one-horse plough or some similar implement. 

528. The hills should be three or four feet apart in 
each direction, the distance between them varying accord- 
ing to the kind of corn which is to be planted ; the smaller 
varieties require less space than the larger. If the corn 
planter, (Fig. 24,) is used, the labor 
of furrowing is avoided, but with 
most machines it is difficult to 
make the rows straight and set the ■ iu-m^ i 
hills at equal distances apart in ^Fi^24. 
each direction, so as to be able to 
run the cultivator or horse-hoe both ways, an important 
means of saving expensive manual labor. 

529. If the soil has been properly prepared and is in 
good condition, it is best to have the plants stand as 
closely as they can without interfering with their perfect 
development, for it is better that the soil should be well 
shaded. The spaces between the hills should, therefore, 
be only just enough to allow the necessary cultivation and 
the free access of air, light and heat. On poor lands only 
a smaller number of plants should be suffered to grow, 
but it is better to put fewer in each hill than to increase 
the distance between the hills. 

530. Many farmers soak the seed some hours before 
planting, as a means of preventing the depredations of 
insects, squirrels, or birds. There may be cases where it is 




162 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

necessary, but except in particular cases this seems to be 
altogether unnecessary. It may sometimes be useful, 
however, by keeping off these various depredators. In 
such cases soak the seed in tar water twelve hours, then 
coat it with ground plaster, or ashes or lime. 

531. Larger crops can generally be obtained by drill 
planting instead of planting in hills, but the labor of hoe- 
ing and cultivating is greater, and except for the smallest 
varieties, drill planting is not common. 

532. Indian corn, whether planted by hand or with a 
corn planter, should generally be covered about an inch 
and a half deep to insure sufficient moisture, and give 
the plant a firm hold on the soil. But on a moist or 
heavy soil an inch is enough. 

533. The first hoeing or dressing may be given when 
the plants are about two inches high. At this time a light 
plough may be used, running as near one of the rows as 
it can without injuring the plants, and then returning 
between the same rows and running near the other. A 
back furrow will thus be left half way between the rows 
which should not at this time be disturbed by the hoe. 
The plough will do no injury while the plants are still so 
small and before the fibrous roots have extended. 

534. In subsequent dress- 
ings, the horse-hoe, (Fig. 
25,) should be used. The 
plough would break and in- 
jure the roots, and should 
never be introduced between 
the rows after the first hoe- 
ing. The horse-hoe will stir the ground as deeply as it is 
safe to go. In the second dressing, the cultivator, or what 
is far better, the horse-hoe, will pai'tially level the back 




Fig. 25. 



MODES OF HARVESTING. 163 

furrow made V)y the plough, and a third dressing will 
leave it quite level. 

535. Three hoeings are thought by some to be requisite 
for Indian corn ; but, in general, the oftener it is hoed 
the better. Should a drought occur, the frequent use of 
the horse-hoe is particularly advantageous, especially if 
there be a moist subsoil. It gives the soil a useful stirring 
and will produce a much more vigorous growth. Great 
care should be taken that no weeds be allowed in the 
j&eld. 

536. While the crop is still standing in the field, just 
before the gathering, the farmer should mark the earliest 
and best formed ears, so that they may be distinguished 
at harvesting and saved for seed the next year. This is 
better than to trust to a selection at the time of husking, 
or after the corn is put into the bin. 

537. Those who make a practice of cutting the top 
stalks, do it about the middle of September, or when the 
tassel begins to grow dry, after the kernel has hardened. 
In some cases it is thought that cutting the stalks hastens 
the ripening of the grain, but if the ears are soft at the 
time of cutting, they will shrivel and never ripen full and 
sound. 

538. But the best and most enlightened practice appears 
to be to cut up the whole plant from the ground after the 
stalk has slightly turned and begun to ripen," and stook 
it or set it in a cluster of bundles bound together at 
the top so as to shed the rain, where it will soon ripen 
up, when the ears may be taken off as it stands on the 
field, or the whole removed to the barn to be husked. 

539. By far the quickest and cheapest way to cut and 
stook, is to take a pole twelve feet long and fix to one end 
two legs or supports four or five feet long. The pole is 

15 



164 



CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 




pierced with a hole through which to insert a cross stick 
horizontally. Two men take five rows, setting the stocking 
pole on the middle row, and cut up enough for a good 
sized bundle for each of the four corners made by the 

cross stick as 
shown in fig- 
ure 26. The 
binding and a 
twist around 
the top of the 
four bundles, 

is the work of a moment, when the cross stick is pulled 
out and the pole drawn along for another stock. 
Mil 540. Wheat. There are many varieties of wheat, 

the differences between them being generally the 
result of differences of climate, soil and culture ; 
but those most commonly raised may be distin- 
guished by the general terms of winter and spring 
wheat. The form of the ear is shown in figure 27. 
541. The root of winter wheat is most admirably 
fitted to endure the severe colds of a high latitude. 
The main seminal root is pushed out at the same 
time with the germ, and nourishes the plant in its 
early growth. Winter wheat has a larger and 
Fig. 27. plumper ear and a harder and more erect stem 
than spring wheat. It should be sown early in autumn, 
in our latitude as early as September. 

542. Wheat requires a stronger and more tenacious soil 
than Indian corn, and more moisture; but if water is 
found in excess, the tissues of the plant become soft and 
watery, and it runs to stalk, producing little grain. Soils 
of a moderate degree of stiffness are best suited to it, but 



SOWING OP WHEAT. 165 

it will grow on a light soil far better in a damp climate 
than in a dry one. 

543. The soil must of course be such as to furnish the 
plant with the mineral substances it requires. Lime, for 
example, in small quantities, is essential to good wheat 
land, and no soil, however good it may be in other 
respects, and however favorable the climate, will produce 
first rate crops of wheat, unless it contain a proper 
proportion of lime. 

544. Though wheat, like most other plants, thrives best 
on a thoroughly tilled soil, deep ploughing is less impor- 
tant in its cultivation than in that of Indian corn, since 
its roots do not strike down so deep, while from the season 
of its growth it is not so liable to suffer from droughts. 
But thorough cultivation is requisite that the land may 
be as clean as possible, that is, perfectly free from weeds 
and noxious plants at the time of sowing. 

545. The land having been ^.o VvOxV^m:.''" " ' " ' ' " 
well manured, ploughed and 
harrowed, wheat may be sown 
broadcast by hand or by a 
broadcast sowing machine, (Fig. 
28,) and harrowed in, or it may 
be sown in drills by a machine ' rig. 28. 
admirably adapted to this purpose. 

546. Both methods have their advantages, but the drill 
sowing is the more economical of the two, as it saves seed 
by its more uniform distribution. Wheat properly drilled 
in is less liable to be thrown out by the frost and killed. 
The yield per acre is also larger, particularly if care be 
taken to stir the ground and keep out weeds between the 
drills during the growth of the plant. 




166 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

547. Besides, in drill sowing the crop gets the benefit 
of greater light and heat, and a freer circulation of air, 
and hence a more thrifty growth. In addition to these 
important advantages of the drill over hand sowing, some 
concentrated manure may be applied in the drill, and the 
wheat feels its influence more directly and quickly than 
if all the manure were spread and turned under. 

548. From four to six pecks of winter wheat, and from 
two to two and a half bushels of spring wheat, should be 
sown to the acre. The quantity will vary according to 
the fertility of the soil, the smaller quantity being required 
on the most fertile soil. 

549. The culture of roots forms an excellent prepara- 
tion for wheat, because they cleanse and mellow the soil. 
Wheat should therefore follow a root crop in the rotation 
rather than an Indian corn crop, though on an oat stubble 
it is often found to succeed well. 

550. Unless the ground has been heavily manured for 
a previous crop, it should be well manured before sowing 
wheat. A strong and vigorous growth in the fall is very 
important, as it will enable the roots to store up a large 
amount of nourishment for the early spring growth, and 
the plant will advance with great rapidity in the early part 
of the following season. Spring wheat should be sown 
as early in April as the condition of the land will allow. 

551. Wheat should be harvested before it gets dead ripe. 
It makes more and better flour if cut just after the grain 
has begun to harden, but while it is still so soft that it 
can be crushed with ease between the thumb and finger. 
The straw is then greenish but partially turned yellow. 

552. If the wheat is not gathered at this time it changes 
very rapidly in favorable weather, and the grain and straw 
soon grow less valuable, a part of the starch of which the 



CULTIVATION OP RYE. 167 

grain is composed becoming bran. This should not be 
forgotten, and when the wheat reaches the proper degree 
of ripeness it shoukl be cut at once. 

553. Exposure to rains after cutting is very injurious 
to wheat. It makes botli grain and straw darker in color 
and is apt to cause a partial decay on the surface. The 
parts thus affected mix with the rest in grinding, and give 
the flour a dark hue. Wheat should therefore be stacked, 
or housed as soon as possible after reaping. 

554. Rye. Rye holds the next rank among ,\ : 
the cereals in its nutritive qualities and its ,\l||j 
importance as food for man. The form of an ear \.i|| 
of rye is shown in figure 29. It occupies the same i|||j 
place in the rotation on light soils that wheat does 
on heavy ones. 

55o. Wheat, as we have seen, is most produc- 
tive only on a calcareous soil — that is, a soil which | 
contains more or less lime. Rye accommodates }L^, 
itself to much lighter and drier soils, and though 
it does better where there is some lime in the soil, 
it does not require the presence of this substance 
as wheat does, and in point of fact it is usually 
sown upon the poorest soils of the farm. 

55Q. There are two well-marked varieties of 
rye, the winter and spring, which are cultivated 
like winter and spring wheat. Rye is much less '^' 
sensitive to the cold than wheat, while its growth is much 
more rapid. Hence it is a better staple crop for a high 
northern latitude. 

557. When sown for its grain, about one bushel of seed 
per acre is required. If sown as a green crop for soiling 
or feeding out green to cattle, two or three bushels per 
acre are usually allowed. 

15* 



168 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

558. On sheep farms winter rye sown the previous fall, 
will often furnish a very early and nutritious feed in spring 
before the pastures are in a condition to graze, and the 
more extended use of this crop for this purpose would be 
judicious, particularly on dry poor soils near the home- 
stead. 

559. Rye straw cut short and steamed, is sometimes 
mixed with Indian or linseed meal, shorts, or other fine 
feed, and contains more nutriment than the straw of 
wheat, but it is so tough and coarse that it is not relished 
by cattle unless artificially prepared, while its value for 
other purposes is such that it is seldom used as food for 
stock. 

560. The principal disease of this plant is 
known under the name of ergot. It is a 
kind of spur or morbid growth which takes 
the place of the grain. Ergot is not con- 
fined exclusively to rye, but occasionally 
attacks some of the other grasses, though 
more common in rye. It is poisonous. Rye 
is more liable to it in low damp lands, than 
■p. ' 'gQ on dry and light uplands. It is illustrated 
in figure 30. 

561. Barley. Barley (Fig. 31,) grows and ripens with 
astonishing rapidity, and hence may be cultivated in 
many climates where other cereals cannot. It requires a 
light fertile soil well cultivated and free from weeds, 
which are more injurious ^o it than to any other grain. 
The manure used should be old and well decomposed. 

562. Barley should be made to follow a hoed crop, if 
possible, and should be sown as soon after the tenth of 
May as practicable. It may be simply harrowed in on 
stiff soils, or harrowed and rolled on light ones. After 




THE YIELD OF OATS. 



169 



coming up it is more likely to be hurt by 
the feeding and trampling of sheep and 
other stock than either wheat or rye. 

563. It should be harvested before it is 
perfectly ripe, as it is soon injured if allowed 
to stand too long. If harvested early, the 
grd,in is of better quality and less liable to 
shell off and be wasted. 

564. Oats. Oats (Fig. 32,) do best in a 
damp climate and a moist soil, with a 
moderate summer temperature. As we 
seldom find these conditions united in this 
country, the crop rarely succeeds so well 
here as in some other countries. 

565. In the best oat districts of Scotland 
and Ireland, the average weight of a bushel 
of oats is forty-three or forty-four pounds, 
while more than a hundred bushels per acre 
are often gathered. In this country crops* 
of eighty or ninety bushels are regarded as 
large, the average yield being much less, 
while the weight per bushel is rarely more 
than from twenty-eight to thirty-two pounds. 

566. After thorough ploughing, oats may 
be sown broadcast either by hand or by some 
of the admirable broadcast seed sowers, and 
covered by means of the common harrow 
and the roller. The latter is especially 
useful on light lands, as the compression of 
the soil aifected by it hastens the germina- 
tion of the seed and causes it to spring up 
uniformly. From two to four bushels of 
seed per acre should be used, according to 




31. 




32. 



170 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 

the richness of the soil and the purpose for which the 
crop is designed. 

567. Oats produce an admirable green crop for feeding 
out to milch cows and other stock, on account of the 
rapidity and earlincss of their growth. When sown for this 
purpose a larger quantity of seed is required than if the 
design is to produce a crop of grain. In either case the 
earlier they are sown in spring the better. 

568. The roller is sometimes drawn over the young 
plants before they have tillered, or sent up side shoots. 
It then checks the upward growth of the main stalk and 
multiplies the side shoots, thus increasing the amount of 
the product. 

569. Oats should be cut before the straw has turned 
completely yellow ; if left longer, the amount of nutri- 
ment both in the grain and the stalk becomes less, and 
there is a loss by shelUng out in harvesting. They may 
be cut with the scythe, and in many cases the mowing 
machine or t-eaper can be used to advantage. They 
should be left to dry a day or two before storing m the 
barn. 

570. In this country oats are used almost exclusively 
for feeding horses and other animals, for which purpose 
they are very excellent, as they contain a large amount 
of nourishment. Oat meal is also extensively used by 
young men during their trainmg or preparation for 
athletic games and exercises, being admirably adapted to 
the formation of muscle and strength. It is used for 
human food to a great extent in Scotland and Ireland. 
The straw is more valuable for fodder than that of wheat, 
rye or barley. 

571. Buckwheat. Buckwheat is not properly a cereal 
grain, but belongs to an entirely different order of plants 



RAISING OF BUCKWHEAT. 171 

known as knotweeds. There are three cultivated species 
of this genus, the seeds of wliich when ground, are used 
as food for man. Of these only one, buckwheat, is raised 
in this country, one in Italy, and the third in China. 

572. As it remains in the ground but a short time, it 
may be cultivated m high northern latitudes, and it is 
seldom found in this country except in the region north 
of Tennessee and North Carolina. 

573. This plant succeeds best on Mght soils, but will 
do well on almost any soil except a heavy clay. It is 
frequently sown to plough m green as a manure in 
preparing for some other crop. For this purpose it is 
less valuable than clover, or a suitable mixture of plants, 
but if ploughed in when in blossom, it is beneficial in 
all soils which contain but little organic or vegetable 
matter. 

574. Before sowing buckwheat the land is usually 
ploughed once and then lightly harrowed. No other 
preparation is necessary. The seed is sown in June, and 
harrowed in. About three pecks per acre is enough, 
though some farmers sow a bushel, broadcast. Good 
crops of buckwheat have sometimes been obtained from 
seed sown after a crop of barley has been taken from 
the land, and some sow it in August with winter wheat. 

575. When ready for harvesting, it may be cut with 
the scythe or the cradle ; the latter is better. It is then 
raked or gathered into small bundles, which are fastened 
by twisting the tops, and allowed to stand and dry on the 
field. If mown with the scythe and left in the swath, it 
will shell out. It dries slowly, and should be threshed 
as soon as it is stored, since there is much danger of its 
heating. The yield of this crop is from twenty to forty 
bushels per acre. 



172 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 

576. Millet. Several plants of different species pass 
under the name of millet, and are cultivated, to some 
extent, for their seeds. The common millet is best 
known in this country. Millet is often sown to cut up 
green for stock. If raised for winter fodder, it is cut and 
cured like hay. 

577. Millet flourishes best in a dry sandy loam, well 
and deeply pulverized by the plough and the harrow. 
If evenly sown, a peck of seed per acre is enough, if it is 
cultivated for the seed. But when it is designed to be 
cut to feed out green to cattle, a larger amount of seed 
should be used. 

578. Millet is regarded as an exhausting crop if 
allowed to ripen, but it will do well on land too hglit for 
grass, and deserves to be more extensively cultivated 
than it now is. It may be sown from the middle of May 
to July, and harvested as the grasses are for hay, but 
when cultivated for the seed, it should be allowed to 
stand till nearly ripe. 



CHAPTER XYII. 

LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 

579. This class of plants embraces several different 
genera and many species and varieties due to the action 
of soil, climate and cultivation. It includes the cultivated 
varieties of the bean, the pea, the lentil, the lupine, and 
the vetch ; all of which produce seeds composed largely 



VARIETIES OF THE BEAN. 173 

of a substance known to chemistry as legiimine, which is 
almost the same as caseine or the cheesy matter of milk, 
and in many respects is like the gluten or nitrogenous 
compounds of the cereals, although somewhat different. 
But the proportion of starch and nitrogenous substances 
contained in the leguminous plants is far gTcater than that 
of the albumen and gluten m the cereals. 

580. The Bean. The most important of the legumi- 
nous plants in our agriculture is the bean. There are 
many varieties of the bean, all derived originally from the 
same. The kinds most frequently used belong to the 
genus Pliaseolus, of which three prominent varieties are 
commonly cultivated as a field crop. These are the large 
white bean, the small white, and the China bean, with a 
red or pink eye. As many as thirty or forty sub-varieties 
of this genus are found in gardens, some of them known 
as climbing, or pole beans, others as bush beans. 

581. Beans grow well on a variety of soils, from a very 
light sand to a strong loam ; but sandy or gTavelly soils 
are better for them than strong and tenacious clays. On 
light soils the plant not only ripens earlier, but is cleaner 
and freer from earth, which frequently adheres to the 
plant in large quantities, during rains, especially at the 
period of ripening. 

582. The land should be thoroughly ploughed and 
harrowed so as to be well mellowed. The stable manure 
applied should be well decomposed or composted, and it 
may be placed in the hill or drill. The varieties of the 
white bean are usually grown in hills, while bush and 
garden beans are more often planted in drills. On dry, 
sandy or gravelly lands beans do better if planted thick ; 
the rows of the smaller varieties need not be more than 
two feet apart, only space enough being left between them 



174 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 

to allow cultivation. In drills six beans may be planted 
to the foot, and the quantity of seed to be used per acre 
whether sown in hills or drills, will be from one to three 
bushels, according to the variety. 

583. The proper time for planting beans in the latitude 
of New England, is between the 20th of May and the 10th 
of June. Generally the best time is about the 1st of 
June, but it varies a little, according to the nature of the 
soil and the forwardness of the season. 

584. When the plants have formed their first full-sized 
leaves, generally about the 20th of June, the crop should 
be hoed for the first time with the hand-hoe, the horse- 
hoe or the cultivator having previously been used between 
the rows, if necessary. The best farmers prefer not to stir 
the ground with the plough if the weeds can be kept down 
with the hoe. 

585. The character of the season makes a great differ- 
ence in the crop. Too much moisture causes the leaves 
to grow with great luxuriance, and a very dry season 
often stints the plant and prevents it from growing 
vigorously. 

586. When the leaves shrivel and the pods turn yellow, 
the crop should be harvested, by pulling up the plants and 
stacking them in some convenient place on the ground or 
on rails. They will soon become dry, and should then be 
taken to the barn and threshed out. Unless perfectly 
ripe and dry, they should be spread out and occasionally 
turned till all moisture has passed off, so that there is no 
longer any danger of injury from heating. 

587. The yield will vary from fifteen to thirty or forty 
bushels per acre, according to the land and culture, and 
the variety planted. The stalks are valuable as fodder 
for sheep and horses. 



CULTUEE OP THE PEA. 175 

588. The Pea. The gray or field pea is most common 
as a field crop. Many other varieties of this vegetable 
are found in the garden and the market, each of which 
is marked by some peculiarity as to time of ripening, 
size, &G. 

589. The soil best adapted to the pea is a stiff loam, 
such as might be called clayey. But it will not do well 
on a heavy clay. In general the pea may be successfully 
cultivated on all soils which can be deeply tilled and richly 
manured, except the stiffest clays and light sands. 

590. Fine, well-rotted composts or ashes, plaster or 
lime, should be used for this crop, in preference to coarse 
barnyard manures. 

591. In soils of not more than ordinary stiffness, which 
have been well cultivated for some preceding crop, a single 
deep ploughing followed by the harrow is sufficient for 
pease. They should be sown in drills, from two to four 
bushels of seed being used per acre, and covered about 
an inch and a half deep. They may follow any farm crop 
in the rotation, but should never be raised year after year 
on the same land. Many sow pease broadcast with oats, 
and harrow them in, and good crops, are often obtained in 
this way. A thorough rolling with a heavy field roller is 
useful. 

592. When ready for use pease are picked by hand, or 
if sown broadcast mixed with some other crop, they are 
cut with the scythe, and then taken to the barn and 
threshed with the flail. In some places the pea is 
cultivated to some extent to furnish green feed for stock, 
and as a green manure crop to be turned under. For 
these purposes it is sown broadcast or hoed in among corn 
at the last hoeing. 

16 




176 LEGUMINOUS PLANTS. 

593. This plant is liable to be attacked by a 
weevil, the pea bug, magnified in figure 33, which 
deposits its eggs in the pod just as the pea is 
swelling. This is done at night or in cloudy 
^2- weather. As soon as hatched the grub penetrates 
the young pea and remains there till towards the end 
of the following winter, when it bores its way out, after 
having changed into a pupa and cast its skin, leaving a 
round smooth hole. The germ is left untouched, and 
pease injured in this way may therefore be used for seed. 

594. Immersing the seed in hot water before planting 
will destroy the grub, if it still remain in the pea, but 
this remedy would generally be too late, as the grub 
usually leaves towards the close of winter. 

595. The insect lives in other plants, so that if destroyeti 
in every pea there would still be enough left to deposit an 
egg in every pea of the next crop. Hence there is at 
present no known remedy against the weevil for early 
sown pease. Those planted late in June are not so liable 
to be attacked, and pease might perhaps be obtained free 
from these insects by late planting. 

596. But this vegetable must have abundant moisture 
while in blossom, or its yield will be small, and the droughts 
and great heat of July are very injurious to it ; hence it 
will often be found that the evils of late sowing are greater 
than its advantages. 

597. The Lentil in some countries forms an important 
article of food. It requires a warm, light soil, but its 
yield both of straw and seed is small compared with that 
of the bean or pea, and there would, probably, be no 
object in introducing it into our agriculture as a field crop. 

598. The Vetch would doubtless succeed well here as 
a green food for cows in milk, or for horses. It might be 



THE POTATO. 177 

sown with oats, using two bushels of vetches, of the white 
flowered variety, to one of oats per acre, on land in good 
condition. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

ESCULENT ROOTS. 

599. The Potato, one of the most important plants of the 
farm, may be raised from'the seed, and it is in this way that 
new varieties are obtained, or it will grow from the tuber 
or enlarged portion of the stem beneath the ground ; this 
contains many eyes or germs, from which spring shoots 
or stalks, which reproduce the same species or variety. 

600. If the tubers are to be planted, which is the 
common mode of propagating the potato, it is desirable 
that they should not be allowed to ripen fully. They 
grow much more vigorously if dug before ripening than 
if the plants stand till they decay in autumn. 

601. There are many varieties of the potato, but the 
chief practical distinction is known by the terms early 
and late. All the varieties without doubt have come from 
the wild plants native to South America, whence they 
were first brought into use in Europe. 

602. The potato contams a large quantity of starch in 
combination with water, and a large percentage of potash 
which is found in the ash, left after burning. The amount 
of starch is different in the different varieties, some having 
as much as thirty-two per cent. 



178 ESCULENT ROOTS. 

603. The quantity of starch is greatest in winter. Ger- 
mination rapidly decreases it in spring, and hence potatoes 
are less mealy and palatable. Since the prevalence of the 
potato rot, the amount of starch in most of the varieties 
has very much diminished. It is worthy of remark that 
the wild potato plant contains but little, if any, nutriment. 

604. With good management and in a good season, a 
fair crop of potatoes may be obtained from almost any 
soil, but they do best on a loose, mellow, virgin soil, or one 
newly cleared, and the liability to rot is less in such soils 
than on a heavy retentive one, or on peat land which before 
the rot first appeared often produced very large crops. 
A strong, deep, warm loam with a porous subsoil is 
especially fitted for this crop. 

605. Very few jDlants require so little preparation of the 
land for cultivation as the potato, and a large yield has 
been obtained by merely dropping the tubers along the 
side of the furrow on the turned up sod, and back-fur- 
rowing to cover them. 

606. Strongly heating manures, such as that from the 
barnyard while still unfermented, which were formerly 
much used for potatoes, have been found by experience 
to increase the liability to disease, and hence should be 
avoided, if possible, and if used at all they should be 
ploughed in rather than applied in the hill. Ashes or 
plaster of Paris may be used in the hill to advantage. 

607. The potato may be cut into pieces before planting, 
each piece containing one or more eyes or germs, 
and a certain proportion of the body of the potato. The 
latter furnishes nourishment to the germ in the first 
stages of its growth. Cutting is often judicious, and 
always so when the potatoes to be used as seed are to be 



CULTURE OF THE TURNIP. 179 

purchased. The largest potatoes grow from eyes taken 
from that part of the tuber nearest the stalk. 

608. The crop may reqmre two careful hoemgs, and 
the weeds should be kept down by further cultivation, 
if necessary. At the first hoeing, when the plants are 
from one to two inches high, the plough or the cultivator 
may be used between the rows, as the workman may 
prefer. 

609. The crop is harvested in the month of September 
or October, according to location and the variety, being 
lifted out of the ground by the hoe, or, which is far 
better, the eight-tined fork. Some farmers run a furrow 
with the common plough through the rows. 

610. Tlie Turnip. The turnip is cultivated with the 
highest success only in a moist and equable climate. In 
this country, on account of the excessive droughts to 
which we are subject, the large size of root and luxuriant 
growth so frequently found in Scotland and the west 
of England, are seldom to be seen. Possibly the 
deficiency in weight of the crop may be made up by a 
greater amount of nutriment in proportion to weight, as 
in the case of grasses and other plants grown in a dryer 
climate. But this must be determined by more extended 
experiment and accurate analysis. 

611. The common turnip is very highly esteemed as a 
valuable food for stock, especially for sheep, and its 
cultivation is regarded as one of the best methods 
of preparing the soil for a succeeding crop of grain. 

612. Experience has shown that it is very advantageous 
to raise alternately a deep or tap-rooted crop like the 
turnip, carrot or parsnip, and a surface-rooted one like 
wheat, rye, barley, &c. The form of the root of some 
of these plants is shown in figTire 34. The root crop is 

16* 



180 



ESCULENT ROOTS. 




not only valuable in itself, 
but it also draws up from 
the lower strata of the soil 
more or less of the valua- 
ble plant nourishing sub- 
stances always present 
there, and leaves a portion 
of them near the surface, 
where they can easily be 
reached by surface-rooted 
Fig. 34. plants. 

613. The varieties of the turnip are very numerous. 
Those most commonly cultivated are the common globe, 
the purple-top strap leaf, the hybrid, and the Swede or 
ruta-baga. Many others have a local reputation, and are 
more or less valuable. 

614. The soils best adapted to the turnip are light loams, 
loose and open, under full cultivation or thoroughly 
ploughed and pulverized. There are few crops which 
require so much preparation of the land before planting. 

615. The land designed for the Swede or ruta-baga, 
should be very deeply ploughed the preceding autumn, 
the deeper the better. Two thorough ploughings should 
also be given in the spring, to be followed by a careful 
harrowing so as to mellow and completely disintegrate or 
break up and pulverize the soil. The flat turnip requires 
less depth and thoroughness of cultivation. 

616. The soil should be enriched by an abundant supply 
of manure. On poor soils the root soon degenerates and 
becomes small and acrid. The manures best adapted to 
this vegetable are those rich in phosphates, such as 
dissolved bones or bone dust, guano and super-phosphate 
of lime. 



TURNIPS AS FOOD FOR STOCK. 181 

617. Manures rich in nitrogen and comparatively poor 
in phosphates, promote the growth of the leaf rather than 
of the bulb, and their injudicious use will produce an 
inferior crop. When the soil is not very rich and soft in 
itself, a heavy dressing of farmyard manure may safely 
be ploughed in, and home made super-phosphate or bone 
dust, mixed with gTiano, may be applied near the surface 
or in the drill. 

618. The common round or flat turnip is usually sown 
broadcast and harrowed in, but the Swede or ruta-baga is 
sown in drills about two and a quarter feet apart, with 
the seed sower. Neither should be planted in ridges or 
raised drills, except on very thin soils, as the benefit to 
the land of a deep-rooted crop is less marked, than if 
the ground is kept level. 

619. From two to three pounds of seed are allowed per 
acre. This quantity will give more plants than can be 
grown to advantage, and they should be thinned out so 
that there may be a proper distance between them during 
the summer. 

620. The horse-hoe may be used between the drills 
when the first rough leaves have appeared. This is 
followed by the hand-hoe to clear out the weeds and stir 
the soil around the plants. Subsequent hoeings will be 
necessary to prevent the growth of weeds. 

621. Turnips may remam in the ground till the hard 
frosts begin, without injury. They should then be taken 
up and stored in suitable root cellars or in pits on the 
field, where they may remain till wanted for use. 

622. As has been said, turnips are a valuable article of 
food for sheep and all kinds of store cattle. Aii animal 
can easily be fattened on turnips and hay. They should 
be cut with the shovel or the turnip-slicer before being 



182 ESCULENT ROOTS. 

fed out. From seventy-five to one hundred pounds a day, 
in addition to hay or straw, may be fed to an animal of a 
thousand pounds weight. 

623. The kohl-rabi is a hybrid turnip, or turnip- 
stemmed cabbage, much used in some countries as food 
for man and animals. It is sown early in spring and 
cultivated like the cabbage. 

624. The cabbage is not very common as a field crop 
in this country, but is mostly confined to the home or 
market garden. It requires a very rich clayey soil and 
high cultivation. The seed is usually sown in beds to he 
transplanted into hills, where it is hoed and cultivated 
like other garden vegetables. 

625. The Beet. There are many varieties of the beet, 
but all may be included under the two general designations 
of garden and field beets ; these may be agam sub-divided 
according to their size and color, the shape of the root, 
and the purposes to which they are applied. Field beets 
comprise those used for feeding cattle and making sugar. 

626.' The Mangold Wurzel is more esteemed for stock 
feeding in this country than any other variety of beet. 
It does best on a rich, deep, well-manured soil, with 
thorough cultivation, but will accommodate itself to most 
soils that are strong, deep, and well tilled. 

627. To prepare the land for the beet it should be 
deeply ploughed, manured, and harrowed level ; the seed 
should then be sown by a machine in rows at the rate of 
three or four pounds per acre, and covered to the depth 
of an inch. It is a common practice to steep the seed in 
water for twenty-four liours before sowing. 

628. The after cultivation consists mainly in the free 
use of the cultivator or horse-hoe, and the hand-hoe, so 
as to keep the surface fresh and free from weeds. Man- 



CULTURE OF THE CARROT. 183 

golds may stand a foot apart in the rows. If they are a 
foot apart m the rows, the rows bemg two feet apart, 
there will be more than twenty thousand plants to the acre. 

629. The Mangold may be harvested in October. If 
the root is bruised or injured it is liable to decay, and care 
should be taken to guard against the possibility of this. 
When well stored in a cool cellar or in pits dug for the 
purpose, it will keep through the winter, and cattle of all 
kinds are very fond of it. 

630. The Carrot. The carrot is very valuable as a 
forage crop, and is extensively cultivated and highly 
esteemed. No root is more relished by domestic animals. 
Weight for weight it is somewhat less nutritive than the 
potato ; but its greater yield per acre more than makes 
up for the difference in quality. 

631. Horses are especially fond of it, and when not 
kept at very hard work, should have it as part of their 
regular food. It keeps up their condition, and gives them 
a fine glossy coat. When fed to cows it increases the 
richness of the milk somewhat, and is supposed by some 
to give a richer color to the butter, while for sheep and 
lambs it is also a valuable article of food. 

632. The cultivation of the carrot is generally more 
expensive than that of most other root crops. It requires 
much slow and toilsome hand labor, unless great care be 
taken to avoid sowing the seeds of weeds with the manure. 
But on clean land, and with the use of concentrated 
manures like ashes, plaster, guano or old and well 
decomposed compost, the cost of the crop need not be 
much greater than that of other roots. 

633. There are several varieties of this root, all of 
which probably came from the common wild carrot of 
Europe, the Daucus carota. The most valuable for field 



184 ESCULENT ROOTS. 

culture are the short horn, the long orange, the white 
Belgian, and the altringham. The white Belgian will give 
the heaviest yield, on the whole, but the long orange sells 
better and is somewhat more nutritious. The white 
Belgian is often of greater size, but coarser and of less 
weight in proportion to its size. But many think the 
short horn yields a more valuable crop than either. 

634. The carrot grows in almost any variety of climate 
found in this country, but it is more especially adapted 
to the northern regions, which ordinarily suffer less from 
drought. Excessive dryness stops its growth and materi- 
ally lessens its product. 

635. It is most productive on a deep, light, warm loam, 
capable of retaining a moderate degree of moisture in 
summer, but with a dry and open subsoil. 

636. Deep ploughing and subsoiling are especially 
important in the cultivation of this crop. The size and 
weight of the root depend very much upon deep tillage. 

637. No manures of a coarse or very stimulating 
nature should be used. They cause a useless growth 
of fibrous roots and leaves to the injury of the main root. 
Land enriched by previous high culture, where manure 
will be unnecessary, is to be preferred for this crop, but 
in any case only old and well-rotted manures, or some 
concentrated fertilizer, should be used. These may be 
spread on the furrow after deep and thorough ploughing, 
and harrowed in when the land is ready for the seed. 

638. The seed should be new and fresh. When two 
years old it will often fail to germinate. As it does not 
start till after it has been exposed to moisture for some 
time, it is often soaked for eight hours or more, and then 
spread out quite thickly on the floor, where it is left till 
it begins to germinate. This will generally be in six or 



TIME OF SOWING.— THINNING. 185 

eight days. It should then be immediately rolled in 
plaster and sown by the seed sower, in drills from fourteen 
to eighteen inches apart. 

639. If the seed is new and good, two or three pounds 
to the acre are quite enough to plant. If its quality is 
unknown, four or five pounds may be used and the plant 
thinned out while growing. The covering should be but 
slight, not more than half an inch in depth. 

640. The ground should be fully prepared in the 
previous autumn, and the seed put in as soon after the 
15th of April as possible. The plant does better if started 
while the ground is still quite moist, since it is very slow 
in its early growth. 

641. When the plants are well up so as to be distinctly 
seen, they should be hoed and weeded. It is much easier 
to keep the weeds down at the outset, than to get them 
out after they have overrun the crop. The number of 
hoeings will depend much upon the character of the soil 
and the previous culture. If the land is foul or very 
weedy, it will require constant and repeated labor, at an 
expense greater in some cases than the value of the crop 
itself. 

642. At the second hoeing, or when the plants are two 
or three inches high, they may be thinned out if they 
require it, but a greater weight per acre may be obtained 
without much thinning, and the smaller roots, though 
they do not look quite so well, and will not sell for so 
high a price, perhaps, are better for stock than very large 
ones grown four or six inches apart. 

643. Carrots maybe allowed to stand till the early part 
of November without injury from frost. They may be 
raised from the earth by the plough or the fork, and stored 
for winter use, the tops being fed to stock. 



186 ESCULENT ROOTS. 

644. The Parsnip. The parsnip is another plant which 
has been made valuable by culture, the original wild 
parsnip being altogether worthless. It is cultivated both 
as a field and a garden crop, and deserves far more atten- 
tion than it now receives from the farmer. 

645. There is little doubt that the parsnip is more 
nutritive than the carrot, that it is more hardy, some- 
what less liable to be injured by diseases or insects, while 
it is more easily cultivated and more productive. It is 
much liked by all animals, and is thought to give a 
richness to the milk of cows which no other root can, 
except, perhaps, the carrot. It is claimed that its use 
enables the farmers of the islands of Jersey and Guernsey 
to make butter in winter, as rich and high-flavored as 
they can upon the grasses of June. 

646. There are two varieties of this plant, both derived 
from the same source. They are the round or garden, 
and the long field or large Jersey parsnip. The farmer 
will find the latter the most profitable. 

647. The parsnip prefers a mild and moist climate for 
its early growth, but it endures our severest cold, and 
may remain in the ground through the winter to be dug 
up fresh in the spring and used for feeding stock. 

648. It is most productive on chalky or clayey soils, 
and sands rich in mould or humus, but will grow well 
wherever carrots will. In some parts of France carrots 
and parsnips are cultivated together. 

649. The parsnip being a tap-rooted plant, the soil 
must be prepared for it in the same manner as for 
carrots. The seed used should be of the growth of the 
preceding year. The sowing and after cultivation are 
like those of the carrot. 



THE PARSNIP.— THE ARTICHOKE. 187 

650. In a proper climate and soil, the parsnip yields 
more than the carrot, but it is, probably, a more 
exhausting crop. 

651. The Jerusalem Artichoke. The Jerusalem arti- 
choke is nearly as nutritious as the potato, and its stalks 
are almost as valuable as its tubers. It has never been 
cultivated to any great extent as a field crop, in this 
country, but many cultivators of it in Europe claim that 
it has many advantages. Among others, that it grows 
well on light sands and tenacious clays, where no other 
root crop would succeed. They say it does not exhaust 
the soil, but may be grown year after year in the same 
place ; that it is free from diseases, and endures alike the 
colds of whiter and the droughts of summer. 

652. Its cultivation is much like that of the potato, 
the land being prepared and manured in the same way. 
The tubers are planted early in spring, in rows or 
drills, the rows being far enough apart to allow working 
between them, and the plants about nine- inches apart in 
the rows. 

653. In countries where this plant is cultivated as a 
field crop, the stalks are either cut and fed out green, 
beginning, in France, about the end of August, or left 
to be cut with the sickle, and stooked and dried for 
winter fodder. After the stalks are cut and removed, 
the tubers are taken up as they are wanted to feed out, 
or dug late in the fall and stored for winter use. Most 
kinds of farm stock are very fond both of the stalks and 
the roots. 

17 



188 FORAGE PLANTS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE GRASSES — FORMATION OF MEADOWS OR UPLAND 
MOWINGS. 

654. The culture of the natural and artificial grasses 
and other forage plants arose from the necessity of 
providing sustenance through the winter, or inclement 
season, for the domestic animals on which the success of 
agriculture so much depends. It is evident that this 
department of farming is of the highest importance, 
especially when we consider how dependent the raising 
of stock must be upon it. 

6b5. The grasses may be classed, for convenience, 
under two general divisions, the natural and the artificial. 
The natural grasses comprise all the true grasses, or 
plants with long, simple, narrow leaves, and a long sheath 
divided to the base, which seems to clasp the stem, or 
through which the stem seems to pass. Each leaf has 
many fine veins, or lines running parallel with a central 
prominent vein or midrib. The stem is hollow, with very 
few exceptions, and closed at the joints. 

656. The artificial grasses are mostly leguminous plants, 
with a few others which are cultivated and used like the 
grasses, though they do not properly belong to that family. 
The clovers, lucerne, sainfoin, medic and other similar 
plants, are included among the artificial grasses. 

65T. Lands laid down with the natural grasses are 
designed as more permanent mowings than those sown 
with the artificial ones alone. They are sown with a 
number of species of the true grasses, most of which are 



NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. 189 

perennial, and are to be used as mowing lands or for 
pasturage. The artificial grasses are more frequently 
intended to occupy the ground for one or two years only 
in the rotation with other crops, and are generally com- 
posed of only one or two species of plants, and those 
annuals, or at most biennials. 

658. In this country it is common to sow one or more 
species of clover with the natural grasses. The clover 
then occupies the ground almost exclusively during the 
first and sometimes the second year, but afterwards the 
perennial grasses take its place and form a permanent turf. 

659. The natural grasses form a close turf or sward, 
and when left uncut to be fed off by animals, this turf 
makes what is called a pasture or pasturage. 

660. There are certain situations which must be 
improved as pasturage, if at all. Such are steep slopes 
on which cultivation is difficult or expensive, and where 
the soil would be washed into the valleys below, if broken 
up by the spade or plough ; also lands which lie along 
the margins of streams or rivers liable to periodical 
overflows, by which growing crops might be endangered 
or the soil be washed away, and low marshy lands which 
cannot be drained so as to produce annual crops. In 
these latter situations, however, the wild grasses frequently 
come in so luxuriantly, on account of the riclmess of the 
soil, as to give good crops for hay for many years in 
succession, without any cultivation whatever. 

661. There are great differences between the different 
species of grasses. Some are short lived, others more 
permanent; some mature early, others later; some 
contain much nutriment, others little. The different 
species require different kinds of soil also, and withdraw 
from it different substances and elements. 



190 ~ FORAGE PLANTS. 

662. By the use of many judiciously selected species 
together, a greater weight of grass and hay can be 
obtained from an acre than if only a few species be used. 
Probably tliis arises from the fact stated above, that the 
different species use different kinds of nutriment. On a 
certain space, say on a square foot of soil, as many plants 
of a particular species of grass will grow as can find there 
the kind of nourishment they need ; no more of that 
species can grow there, of course ; they would starve as 
it were, but other plants of a different species of grass, 
which require different substances to siipport them, may 
grow on the same soil, because the plants of the first have 
not consumed any of the substances which they want ; so 
as many plants of the second species will grow there as 
can obtain the sort of nourishment suited to them; a 
third species, and others needing different kinds of 
nutriment may be added, and this may go on till the soil 
is crowded as thick with the plants as they can grow. 

663. In selecting a mixture for mowing or for pasturage, 
regard should be had to the modes of growth and other 
peculiarities of each kind. A grass well adapted to cut 
for hay, may be very unsuitable to form a pasture turf. 
Timothy, though one of the best of our grasses for 
mowing, is not good to sow for pasturage, as it cannot 
bear the close cropping of cattle. 

664. Among the grasses which may most profitably be 
cultivated for mowing, may be mentioned Timothy, 
redtop, white bent, orchard grass, perennial rye 
grass, June grass, rough stalked meadow grass, fowl 
meadow grass, meadow fescue, and tall fescue.* Other 

* The natural history, culture and economic value of the grasses are fully 
stated in the Treatise on Grasses and Forage Plants, which those who desire to 
make themselves more familiar with the subject may consult. 



GRASSES FOR PASTURAGE. 191 

species might be mentioned as worthy of cultivation 
for this purpose in particular localities, or when the hay- 
is to be applied to some particular use, but the above are 
the most valuable. 

665. Among the species more particularly fitted to 
form pasturage, are meadow foxtail, orchard grass, sweet 
scented vernal, June grass, redtop, meadow fescue, and 
yellow oat grass. 

666. In selecting the species to be sown, the time of 
flowering of each species should be regarded. When 
seeds of different grasses are mixed for mowing land, 
such kinds should be chosen that all will come into flower 
at about the same time, otherwise one species will have 
begun to spoil before another is ready for cutting. 

667. In laying down pasture land on the contrary, the 
object is quite difierent. Here we wish a constant 
succession of green and succulent herbage from early 
spruig to late autumn. Hence some species may be 
valuable not for their nutritive qualities, but from their 
habit of very early or late growth. The sweet scented 
vernal, one of our earliest grasses, is an instance of this. 

668. The grasses attain their utmost luxuriance only in 
a moist and mild climate. Severe heats and long pro- 
tracted droughts check their growth and make it very 
difficult to form a close sward. Generally speaking, our 
grasses sufier much more from the droughts of summer 
than the colds of winter. It should be added that grasses 
grown in a dry climate, or a dry season, contain more 
nutriment in proportion to their weight. 

669. The best time for sowing the natural grasses, in 
the latitude of the northern States, is about the first of 
September, since they can then become strongly rooted 
before the approach of winter. The practice of sowing 

17* 



192 FORAGE PLANTS. 

in spring with oats or some other grain formerly 
prevailed, but the droughts of summer very often killed 
out the young plants, made tender and weak by the 
shade of the grain crop, and great losses were the 
consequence. 

670. To form a good seed bed it is desirable that the 
land should be under cultivation and well manured for 
two or more hoed crops. It is then deeply and thoroughly 
ploughed and harrowed, so as to leave it in a mellow and 
friable condition. 

671. The seeds mixed as already recommended, may 
then be sown by hand and simply rolled in. They should 
not be covered to any considerable depth, and a heavy 
harrow will bury many of them too deep. If no roller 
is at hand, or if the ground is so wet that it cannot be 
used to advantage, its place may be supplied by a bush 
harrow. 

672. It has been found by experience that in general 
the grasses do better when sown in the fall by themselves ; 
but on clayey, undrained soils, where fall sowing is 
impracticable on account of the great liability to injury 
by being thrown out by the frost, it would be better to 
sow mth wheat or barley in the spring. Such lands will 
not be liable to suffer from drought. 

673. If clover is to be sown on land laid down to grass 
in September, the March following is the best time. 
The seed may be strewn on the last light snows of that 
month, and will vegetate without any covering, though 
if the land be sufficiently dry a roller may be passed over 
the surface and will be beneficial. 

674. The artificial grasses comprise red, white and 
other clovers, lucerne, sainfoin, medic and some others. 



THE ARTIFICIAL GRASSES. 193 

They may be grown alone or mixed with the natural 
grasses. 

675. Red clover is one of the most valuable and 
economical of forage plants. Its long tap-roots loosen 
the soil and let in the air, while by their chemical action 
they fix gases which enrich the earth very much. The 
decay of them in the ground also fertilizes it, and the 
plant shades and protects the surface, and helps to destroy 
many annual weeds. 

676. Clover is what may be called a lime plant, and 
the soils best adapted to it are clayey or tenacious loams. 
It generally does well on good wheat lands. Recent 
investigations have shown that lime enters largely into its 
composition. 

677. White or Dutch clover is as common as the red, 
and often forms a considerable portion of the turf of 
pastures of a moist and tenacious soil. It is most 
commonly cultivated for pasturage, and many think it to 
be as valuable for that purpose as red clover is for hay, 
or for soiling or feeding out green to stock ; but cattle 
are not so fond of it. 

678. Neither lucerne nor sainfoin are cultivated in 
this country. The former has been found to be ill- 
adapted to our climate, suffering severely in the southern 
States from long continued droughts, and as severely in 
the northern from the low temperature and the sudden 
changes of winter. 



194 PLANTS USED IN THE ARTS. 



CHAPTER XX. 

PLANTS USED IN THE ARTS AND MANUFACTURES. 

679. Plants used in the arts are most commonly divided 
into three classes : 1. Oleaginous plants, or those raised 
especially for their oils ; 2. Textile plants, or those raised 
chiefly for their fibre ; and 3. Plants used in the pro- 
cesses of dyeing, tanning, and various manufactures. 

680. The only plant raised to any extent in this country 
for its oil is flax, which is also cultivated for its fibre. 
The seed is ground and the oil pressed out, leaving what 
is called linseed cake, which when ground or broken up 
fine is known as linseed meal, a valuable food for stock. 
The oil obtained from it is known as linseed oil, exten- 
sively used in mixing paints and for other purposes, and 
always sells readily at a good price. 

681. Flax flourishes in a great variety of climates, and 
as it grows very rapidly and requires but a short time to 
complete its growth, may be cultivated in high northern 
latitudes. The soil on which it is sown should be rather 
light, or at least not very stiff and heavy. A light loam 
inclining to sand, which may be deeply and easily tilled 
and kept clean of weeds, is best. 

682. But the choice of soil should depend on the 
object in view. If flax is raised principally for the seed, 
it can hardly be too rich and well-manured. But if the 
plant be grown mainly for fibre, a very rich soil is objected 
to, as it makes the fibre rank and coarse. 

683. Old and well-rotted barn manures may be used 
for this crop, and lime, ashes, or other substances 



CULTURE OF FLAX. 195 

abounding in lime, are good. A heavy dressing of stable 
manures may also be ploughed in deeply in the fall. In 
the cultivation of flax it is very important that the lower 
strata of the soil should be in good condition. 

684. If the soil be mellow and under good cultivation, 
one ploughing followed by a thorough harrowing will be 
sufficient, but if it be stiff and ill prepared, two plough- 
ings at least will be necessary. 

685. The quantity of seed to be sown also depends 
upon the object m view. If it be desired to raise the 
seed, only two bushels per acre will be enough. If the 
fibre, about three bushels is needed. If the less quantity 
be used, the plant will grow stalky and branch and 
produce much more seed. 

686. But if the larger quantity be sown, the plants 
force themselves up in a single stem, without branches. 
This gives a better fibre, as branching shortens it and 
makes it irregular. A long, straight, fine and delicate fibre 
is by far the best, and it is found to be more profitable to 
cultivate the plant so as to obtain this, than to raise it for 
the seed. 

687. The seed is sown broadcast and covered with a 
light harrow, then rolled. After the plants are up they 
should be kept as free as possible from weeds, which 
should be pulled up by hand. If the flax has been sown 
thick on land well-cleaned by a hoed crop the previous 
year, the weeds will not be troublesome unless their seeds 
have been sown in the manure. 

688. The old method of harvesting flax was to pull it 
by hand, tie in small bundles, and stook it. But the 
processes of manufacture are now so far perfected that 
the crop may be cut with the scythe or the cradle. The 
old processes of water rottmg, breaking, swingling, &c.^ 



196 PLANTS USED IN THE ARTS. 

are now superseded. For the fibre the plant is cut as 
soon as the blossoms begin to fall, but if the object be to 
secure both seed and fibre, it should be left till the bolls 
have turned yellow. 

689. When the flax plant is cultivated for the fibre, 
from ten to fifteen bushels of seed may also be expected 
per acre, depending on the character of the land and the 
thoroughness of culture. 

690. Hemp, another textile plant, is cultivated princi- 
pally for the sake of its fibre, which is used in the 
manufacture of ropes and coarse cloths. It belongs to 
the same family of plants as the hop and the nettle. 

691. The soil best adapted to hemp is a deep rich 
mould of loam and vegetable matter, with fine sand and 
clay intermixed. The rich alluvial lands of Kentucky, 
Missouri, and other western States, are admirably fitted 
for it. 

692. The seed is sown broadcast early in spring, at the 
rate of from one and a half to two and a half bushels 
per acre, according to the fineness of the fibre desired. 
Thick sowing, as in the case of flax, produces a finer 
fibre. When the blossoms begin to fall in July or 
August, it is cut up and sorted into different lengths, 
and bound up into bundles six or eight inches in diameter, 
and put into pools or cisterns of water for rotting. After 
being sufficiently rotted, the bundles are taken out, dried 
and stacked, till ready for the mechanical processes of 
breaking and manufacture which follow. 

693. Osier Willows. Among the plants used in various 
manufacturing industries, and which form a considerable 
item in the agricultural interest of the country, may 
be mentioned the Osier willow, broomcorn, and the 
hop. 



OSIER WILLOWS — BROOMCORN. 197 

694. Osier willows are cultivated for the purpose of 
basket making. Among the varieties most approved are 
those known as the Dutch willow, the purple willow, the 
round-leaved, and the long-leaved triandrous willow. 

695. Willows will grow m a great variety of soils if 
they be only moist enough ; but deep, rich, moist intervals 
or low alluvial lands, lying on the margin of streams, 
especially such as have a southern exposure protected 
from high winds, are most suited to them. 

697. The willow grows well on moist soils, but it 
should not be too wet, and in many cases draining the 
land is advisable, so that it may be ploughed deeply and 
prepared as if for corn or any other highly cultivated 
farm crop. It is then ready to receive the cuttings. 

697. The slips or cuttings are about two feet long, and 
should be set perpendicularly in the soil one foot apart, in 
rows about three feet apart. They should be kept clean of 
weeds the first year or two, either with the hoe or the 
cultivator. The osiers may be cut for the first time in 
about two years after they are set, and may afterwards be 
cut annually early in the spring. 

698. Broomcom does best in a deep, warm, alluvial soil, 
such as is best suited to Indian corn. The land should 
be ploughed in the fall, if sward land, and cultivated in 
spring, or well harrowed and prepared very much as 
for Indian corn. The seed is sown with a seed sower as 
early in spring as practicable, in hills about two and a 
half or three feet apart. It is hoed and thinned out 
soon after coming up, six or eight stalks being left in 
each hill, and afterwards cultivated between the rows 
once or twice in the season. 

699. When the season is sufficiently long, broomcom is 
allowed to grow until the seed is ripe and hard. It is then 



198 PLANTS USED IN THE ARTS. 

lopped or tabled about two and a half feet from the ground, 
and the top or brush end, with about eight inches of the 
stalk, are cut off and laid on the tables to dry. It is then 
stored on open scaffolds under cover until a convenient 
time, when the seed is scraped from the brush by drawing 
it through two steel springs. The brush is then bound in 
bundles of about ten pounds weight, and is ready for 
market. The seed is valuable for feeding stock. 

TOO. The Hop has generally been considered a valuable 
crop, profitable in localities where the soil and exposure 
favored its growth. The most esteemed varieties are the 
golden, the yellow grape, and the Farnham. 

701. The hop requires a deep and rich loam, rather 
stiff than light, and containing a large proportion of 
organic or vegetable matter. A dry porous subsoil is 
also desirable. The quality of the hop will depend much 
on the soil. It does best in a moist climate. 

702. The land devoted to hops should be richly 
manured, and the use of large quantities of well-rotted 
barnyard compost, bones, woollen rags and other rich 
fertilizers, cause it to produce full crops of the best quality. 

703. The roots of this plant extend very deep into the 
soil, and the land should therefore be very deeply ploughed 
and completely pulverized. The hop is propagated by 
cuttings or layers, sometimes by sowing the seed. 
Cuttings which have been rooted in the form of layers, 
grow more rapidly than more fresh ones. 

704. The bines are supported on poles, set into the 
hills. The poles should be from twenty to twenty-five 
feet long. It is thought by the best hop growers, to be a 
great mistake to use poles of only twelve or fifteen feet 
in length as many do, for in general, the yield is much 
less, and the quality is not so good, while the labor of 



CULTURE OF TOBACCO. 199 

hoeing and picking is as great as with the longer poles. 
Indeed, it is very seldom that a large crop of first rate 
hops is obtained from short poles. 

705. Hops should be gathered when fully ripe, in 
August or September. The vines are cut off from one 
to three feet from the ground, and the poles pulled up 
and laid over large boxes. The hops are then to be 
picked perfectly free from leaves and stems, dried in kilns, 
and pressed into bales. 

706. Tobacco is sown in beds made very rich by 
manuring, to be transplanted in June, or when the leaves 
are two or three inches long. The soil may be prepared 
by ploughing in old and well-rotted stable manures, 
gaiano and other stimulating fertilizers. 

707. Tobacco 
should be planted 
early, that it may 

be cured while the p. 35 

weather is still 

warm and dry. It is only in this way that a fine quality 
can be secured. Constant care is necessary to prevent 
injury from the tobacco worm, shown in figure 35. For 
this purpose the plants must be frequently examined 
and the grubs picked off by hand and destroyed. 

708. While still in blossom and before the seed has 
formed, the plants should be topped, about two and a 
half feet from the ground, leaving twelve or sixteen 
leaves to the stalk, and all side shoots broken off. 

709. When the leaves are thick and spotted, and crack 
if pressed l)etween the thumb and finger, they are ready 
for gathering. The plant is then cut, left in the row till 
the leaves are wilted, and then carried to sheds to be 
hung up to dry from five to ten weeks. 




200 ROTATION OF CROPS. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

OF ROTATION OF CROPS. 

710. ^y Rotation of Crops is meant raising a series of 
different crops in regnlar succession. A farmer turns 
up a lot of his pasture land, and raises, this year, a crop 
of potatoes ; next year, on the same land, a crop of corn ; 
next, a crop of rye ; next, clover and grass. This is a 
common four-fold rotation. 

The object of rotation in crops is to make a field 
or a farm, yield, with a certain amount of labor and of 
manure, the greatest possible amount of valuable crops, 
with as little exhaustion of the soil as possible. 

The reason for a rotation of crops is that no two 
plants, of different kinds, require the same substances, in 
the same proportion, for their nourishment. The grains 
and the grasses may soon exhaust the supply of silica. 
They should, therefore, not immediately succeed each 
other in a rotation. They should be each followed by a 
crop which needs less of silica but more of potash or some 
other mineral salts. A field which would not yield a 
second good crop of wheat, may, even without manure, 
give a very good crop of clover, of turnips or of carrots. 

711. Tlie Important Principles in the rotation of crops 
are 1st, that though a soil may contain all the mineral 
substances necessary for the nourishment of every variety 
of cultivated plants, there is only a limited supply of the 
mineral food necessary for a particular plant ; 2d, some 
plants, like the grains, draw their nourishment from 
near the surface ; others, like carrots and parsnips, draw 



PRINCIPLES OF ROTATION. — ORDER. — SAVING. 201 

much of it from a greater depth ; 3d, some plants, those, 
namely, which have abundant foliage, draw much of their 
food from the atmosphere ; others, like the grains, depend 
more upon the materials contained in the soil. 4tli, Par- 
ticular insects live upon certain kinds of plants, certain 
flies, for example, on grains and grasses, and continue to 
multiply as long as the same crop occupies the soil from 
year to year. But when a crop intervenes on which these 
insects cannot live, as beans or turnips, after wheat or 
oats, then they perish for want of proper nourishment for 
their young. 

712. The order in which crops succeed each other is 
often of great importance. Weeds are a great injury 
to all crops, and barnyard manure almost always carries 
with it the seeds of many pernicious weeds. Such 
manure should therefore be put into the ground when a 
crop is to be cultivated, like corn or beets, which may be 
kept free from weeds by the hoe and the plough or culti- 
vator. When the weeds have been destroyed or nearly 
destroyed, by a hoed crop, a crop may follow of grain or 
clover which camiot conveniently be weeded. 

713. Much may be saved by rotation. Each crop, in 
succession, may find in the soil valuable matters which 
were unnecessary to the preceding crops. Time may be 
saved, which is more valuable than any crop, for lost time 
is never found again. We must ascertain what is the 
best succession of crops, and so arrange the different 
crops in the different fields, as to occupy all the time of 
the husbandman and yet not give him too much to do at 
any one time. 

With sufficient forecast, . this may always be done. 
Suppose you can keep under cultivation twenty-eight 
acres. You divide them into seven equal portions, and. 



202 



ROTATION OP CROPS. 



if your rotation is one of five years, with grass for two 
years, call your several fields A, B, C, D, E, F, G. A 
natural arrangement may be something like the follow- 



Years. 


On A. 


OnB. 


OnC. 


OnD. 


OnE. 


OnF. 


OnG. 


1st., . 


Potatoes. 


Com. 


C. T., B.* 


Rye. 


Clover. 


Grass. 


Grass. 


2a, . 


Corn. 


C.,T.,B. 


Rye. 


Clover. 


Grass. 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


3d, . 


C.,T.,B. 


Rye. 


Clover. 


Grass. 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


Com. 


4th, . 


Rye, 


Clover. 


Grass. 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


Corn. 


C.,T.,B. 


5th, . 


Clover. 


Grass. 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


Corn. 


C.,T.,B. 


Rye. 


6th, . 


Grass. 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


Com. 


C.,T.,B. 


Rye. 


Clover. 


7th, . 


Grass. 


Potatoes. 


Corn. 


C.,T.,B. 


Rye. 


Clover. 


Grass. 



* Carrots, Turnips, Beets. 

In this way you always have eight acres of grass, four 
of corn, four of rye, four of clover, four of potatoes, and 
one or more each of beets, of carrots, and of turnips. 

714. Or you may have a still longer rotation, intro- 
ducing, after carrots, parsnips, after beets, cabbages, and 
after turnips, pease and beans. 

You may save time in the management of the manure. 
This may be put in very abundantly before ploughing, 
and also in the hills for corn, and before beets, carrots and 
turnips, or before cabbages, parsnips, and pease and 
beans ; thus being put in once or twice only in the whole 
course. If mineral as well as other manures are used, 
with the potatoes may be applied plaster, bones and ashes ; 
with the corn, barn manure ; with beans, abundant plas- 
ter ; with the roots, guano, or sea manure, common salt, 
plaster, bones dissolved in sulphuric acid, and ashes. 



REASONS FOR ROTATION. 20o 

In the cultivation of these crops, the ground between 
the rows should be turned over and stirred as often as 
possible, — six or eight times at least. The ploughing 
will then come in this order : earliest, for carrots and , 
beets, next, for potatoes, next, for corn, next, for turnips. 
The grass-field, for potatoes, may be turned over after hay- 
harvest ; the ploughing for parsnips may be later and the 
seed be sown in the autumn. All the hoed crops should 
be cultivated with the cultivator, the horse hoe or the 
horse plough, whenever time can be found till the crops 
are too far advanced to admit of it. 

Good reasons can be given for the seven-years' course 
here recommended. Potatoes require large portions of 
the alkaline salts and of lime. These are succeeded by 
corn, which requires more of silica, together with alka- 
lies ; then come the roots, which require lime and the 
alkalies, with a good deal of nitrogen ; after them rye, 
which calls for silica. This is succeeded by clover, which 
demands a great deal of lime, and this, by the grasses, 
which again demand silica and the alkalies. 

715. All plants require, but in different proportions, 
carbonic acid, phosphoric acid, sulphuric acid, the alka- 
lies, potash, soda and ammonia, and lime, magnesia and 
iron. The acids combine with the other elements of fer- 
tility, and, while the corn is growing, they are preparing, 
from the particles in the soil, carbonates, phosphates and 
sulphates of potash, soda, ammonia, lime, magnesia and 
iron, for the other crops, and new supplies of silica for the 
grasses. 

The substances most frequently needed for the restora- 
tion of fertility are ammonia, phosphoric acid and potash, 
and the most valuable manures, next to barn manure, 
are accordingly bones and ashes. 

IS* 



204 ROTATION OF CROPS. 

716. On a field of clover, gypsum in powder, ashes, 
and bones dissolved in sulphuric acid with one hundred 
times its quantity of water, always produce gratifying 
effects. On grass land similar effects are produced by the 
use of liquid manure which has run from the manure 
heap. 

A poor gentleman in Maryland, suspecting that land 
which had been worn out by long continued cultivation 
of tobacco, might be restored by plaster, so as to produce 
wheat, tried the experiment, which was completely suc- 
cessful. He bought many acres of exhausted tobacco 
land, and, by fertilizing it with plaster, made himself a 
rich man. 

This gentleman, not a man of science, was led to make 
the experiment by reading Sir Humphrey Davy's Chemi- 
cal Lectures. 

717. A Fallow. A field is said to be fallow for a year, 
when no valuable crop is raised upon it. Such a year is 
called a year of fallow, and the field itself is sometimes 
called a fallow. 

It is sometimes well to let a field lie fallow. A field 
much infested with weeds may be allowed to lie till the 
weeds are well grown or beginning to blossom, when they 
may be turned under with a plough. This is like giving 
a coat of manure. When another crop of weeds has 
sprung up, they may be ploughed in, and this may be 
repeated as often as there are any weeds to turn under. 
These green crops may be advantageously increased by 
harrowing in, after each ploughing except the last of the 
season, seed of some rapidly growing plant, like buckwheat. 
After a year of such fallow, the field will be likely to be 
comparatively free from weeds, as most of the seeds of 
weeds will have sprouted and been destroyed. 



WEATHERING. — FALLOWS. 205 

T18. Another benefit comes from the fallow, Weathering. 
The soil, often tnrned up, is exposed to the influences of 
the air, and to sunshine, rain, cold, and wind. From the 
air it receives oxygen, carbonic acid and ammonia, which 
are either employed in rendering soluble the mineral salts 
lying in the soil, or are laid up in the geine of the soil for 
the use of future crops. 

These salts lie concealed in small stones or minute par- 
ticles of the rocks. In mica and felspar, for example, 
which are ingredients in granite, there are potash, alu- 
mina, magnesia and iron, as well as silica, and sometimes 
soda and lime, all essential elements in the food of plants. 

T19. The old Greeks and Romans often allowed their 
fields to lie fallow, and found them thereby rendered 
more fertile ; and the same is done, for the same reason, 
by many nations in the South of Europe. But the intro- 
duction of Indian corn, potatoes and other roots, has 
rendered it less necessary, and where land is very valu- 
able, fallows are generally discontinued, the benefits of 
weathering being secured by deep ploughing and by fre- 
quent tillage between the rows of the standing crops. 

The same rotation is not suited equally to every kind 
of soil. On the sandy soils of New England, abundant in 
silica, Indian corn, rye and the grasses naturally occupy 
more space than they would in a soil rich in lime. In 
such a soil as the last, wheat might take the place of rye 
and of Indian corn. 

T20. The farmer must find out, from the experience of 
others or from his own observation, what course is best 
for the particular soil he cultivates, and the particular 
object he has in view. 

One may choose to keep sheep, another, only cattle 
for the market, another, cows for the dairy. A farmer 



206 ROTATION OF CROPS. 

living near a large market would pursue a course very 
different from one at a great distance. He would natu- 
rally make his farm resemble a large market garden. 

721. Other Rotations. Usually a field laid down to 
grass may be profitably kept for mowing for several years. 
This being understood, and also that grass seed may often 
be conveniently sown with clover, either of the following 
may be an advantageous course : — 

I. — 1, corn ; 2, beets ; 3, rye ; 4, clover ; 5, grass. 

II. — 1, potatoes ; 2, corn ; 8, carrots ; 4, cabbages ; 5, 
beets ; 6, clover and grass. 

III. — 1, potatoes ; 2, beets ; 3, beans ; 4, cabbages ; 5, 
parsnips ; 6, corn ; 7, clover. 

IV. — 1, tomatoes ; 2, squashes ; 3, carrots ; 4, pease or 
beans ; 5, cabbages ; 6, clover. 

V. — 1, turnips ; 2, parsnips ; 3, corn ; 4, potatoes ; 5, 
rye ; 6, clover ; 7, grass. 

For a long course, 1, potatoes ; 2, beets ; 3, squashes or 
melons ; 4, carrots ; 5, wheat ; 6, parsnips ; 7, rye ; 8, 
turnips ; 9, buckwheat ; 10, corn ; 11, clover ; 12, grass. 

It is found by experience that corn does not well follow 
turnips. 

722. The famous Norfolk, (Eng.,) rotation is 1, tur- 
nips ; 2, barley ; 3, clover ; 4, wheat. A favorite rotation 
in France is for the 

1st year, winter wheat, 20 acres. 

2d year, beets, carrots, potatoes, 10 acres ; poppy or 
flax, 5 acres ; colza, 5 acres. 

3d year, oats and spring wheat, 10 acres ; fall wheat, 
5 acres ; turnips, 5 acres. 

4tli year, clover or leguminous vegetables, 20 acres. 

Poppies and colza are a special ol^ject of cultivation in 
France. From the seeds of both oil is made for light and 
for culinary use. 



THE HAY CROP. 207 

On rich clayey soils in England, a course which has 
been much used is 1, oats ; 2, rape, for oil ; 3, beans ; 
4, wheat sown with clover ; 5 and 6, clover ; 7, wheat ; 
8, rape. In rich loams, 1, oats ; 2, turnips ; 3, wheat 
or barley ; 4, beans ; 5, wheat ; 6, fallow or turnips ; 7, 
wheat or barley and grass seeds. But it must be remem- 
bered that the climate of England does not ripen Indian 
corn. 

723. Rotation of crops is not indispensable. It may 
be the best economy, on the whole, of manure, of time 
and of labor. But the farmer who knows the precise use 
and value of the several mineral and other manures, may 
substitute, for a rotation of crops, a rotation of manures, 
which will enable him to grow, on the same field, again 
and again, the crop which may be most profitable for him 
or most in demand in his market. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



THE HARVEST. 



724. The hay crop is usually the first of the harvest 
that requires attention. Before he can determine the 
proper time for mowing, the farmer must consider for 
what purposes his hay is to be used — ^whether he. is to feed 
cows in milk, horses and working oxen, or young stock 
with it. 

725. If it be used for feeding milch cows, it should be 
cut earlier than if it is uitended for some other kinds 



208 THE HARVEST. 

of stock, and at such a time and in such a manner as to 
preserve its juiciness and leave it as much like the green 
grass of the pasture as possible. 

726. If it is to be fed to cows in milk, and the farmer 
wishes to get the gi-eatest quantity of milk, grass should 
be cut just before coming into blossom. It is then most 
juicy, and will therefore produce a greater flow of milk 
than if allowed to stand longer. If the object is to secure 
the best quality of milk, with less regard to quantity, it 
may be cut in the blossom. 

727. For feeding to store cattle, the grasses may be cut 
when in full blossom ; for horses at work and for fattening 
cattle, it is better just after it has passed out of the 
blossom, or when the seed is said to be in the milk. 

728. Grasses attain their full development at the time 
of flowering, and then contain the largest quantity of 
soluble materials, such as starch, gum, and sugar ; these, 
with the nitrogenous compounds which are also most 
abundant at this time, are of the highest value for 
supplying nutriment to animals. 

729. After flowering, and as the seed forms and 
ripens, the starch, sugar, &c., are gradually changed 
into woody fibre, which is nearly insoluble and innutri- 
tions. 

730. This fact is well established, and shows that 
grasses in general should not be allowed to stand after 
the time of flowering. There is, indeed, a great deal 
of nourishment in the ripe seed; but not enough to 
make up for the loss in the stalk and leaves, if the 
mowing is put off till the seed is ripe. Grasses fully ripe 
will make hay little better than straw. 

731. Grass is cut either by hand with the common 
scythe, or by the mowing macliine, (Fig. 36.) With the 



THE MOWING MACHINE. 



209 



former, a good mower will go over an acre a day. With 
the latter, on smooth land, two horses and one man will 
mow at the rate of an acre an hour, or from ten to twelve 
acres a day, without over-exertion. 




732. Besides mowing so much faster, the machine also 
spreads the grass evenly, saving the labor of spreading 
by hand. It also enables the farmer to cut all his grass 
nearer the proper time, and he is not obliged to let a part 
of it stand till it is too ripe. 

733. After being cut, the grass should be frequently 
spread and turned, so as to dry as rapidly and as 
uniformly as possible. This may be done by hand with a 
common fork, or by a machine called a hay-tedder, a 
light revolving cylinder set with tines and drawn by one 
horse, by means of which the grass may be constantly 
stirred and kept in motion, and much time and labor 
may be saved. 

734. Wlien grass is partially or wholly cured, it may 
be raked by hand, or by a horse-rake, (Fig 37.) Raking 




i'lg. 37. 



210 THE HARVEST. 

by hand is easy but slow, 
and thrifty farmers now 
generally use the horse- 
rake whenever they can. 
With the horse-rake, one 
man and horse can do 
as much work as ten men can in the same time without 
it. Hay cut in the forenoon should be raked before night, 
that it may not be exposed to the dews. 

735. The time required for curing hay depends partly 
on its ripeness when cut, and much on the state of the 
weather. In good weather, if machinery is used, it may 
be cut in the morning after the dew has risen, and dried 
so as to be put into light cocks early in the afternoon, or 
before the dews of evening. A slight opening to the sun 
for an hour or two the next day should dry it enough, 
if it was cut while in blossom or before. Hay should be 
got in during the heat of the day. 

736. Grass cured rapidly and with the least exposure, 
is more nutritious than that cured more slowly and longer 
exposed to the sun. If dried too much, it contains more 
useless woody fibre and less nutriment. The more 
succulent and juicy the hay, the more it is relished by 
cattle. 

737 o After the grass has been cut at the proper time, 
the true art of haymaking consists in curing it just 
enough to make it fit for storing away, and no more. 
The loss of the nutritive substances, which make the hay 
most valuable, is then stopped at the earliest moment. 
It is as great a mistake to dry grass too much, as to let it 
stand too long before cutting. 

738. K the hay has not been perfectly dried, and there 
is danger that it may heat in the mow, it is well to have 



CURING OF CLOVER. 211 

alternate layers of the new hay and straw or old hay. 
In this way the heating may be prevented, and the straw 
or old hay will be so far flavored and improved, as to be 
relished by stock of all kinds. If there is much reason 
for apprehension, four quarts of salt to the ton may be 
sprinkled in. 

739. Experience has shown that hay properly dried is 
not likely to be injured by its own juices alone ; if it has 
been exposed to rain, it should never be put into the mow 
until it has been thoroughly dried. 

740. Clover should be cut immediately after blossoming 
and before the seed is formed. It should be cured in 
such a manner as to lose as little of its foliage as possible, 
and therefore cannot be treated exactly as the natural 
grasses are. It should not be long exposed to the scorching- 
sun, but after being wilted and partially dried, it should 
be forked up into cocks and left to cure in this position. 
The fourth or fifth day, when the weather is fair and 
warm, open and air it an hour or two, and it will then 
be fit to cart to the barn. 

741. Clover cured in this way without loss of its foliage, 
is better for milch cows and for sheep than any other hay. 
It may also be fed to horses that are not hard worked, or 
to young stock, but it is most valuable for cows in milk. 
For other farm stock it is worth from two-thirds to three- 
fourths as much as the best hay. 

742. If there is reason to fear that it is not sufficiently 
cured when stored away, it may be mixed with old 
meadow or swale hay or straw, putting first a layer 
of hay or straw, and then one of clover. Stored in this 
manner, cattle will eat both the hay and clover very greedily. 

743. Lucerne should be cut as soon as it begins to 
flower, or even earlier. If allowed to stand later, it 

19 



212 



THE HARVEST. 




becomes coarse and hard with much woody fibre, and 
is less relished by cattle. It is cured and used like 
clover. 

744. The proper time to cut both wheat and rye is 
when the straw begins to whiten and shrink just below 
the head. This change will commence a week or more 
before they are fully ripe, and shows that the grain has 
ceased to receive nourishment from the roots. If taken 
in before getting dead ripe, it makes 
more and whiter flour, and the 
waste from shelling out is avoided. 
Wheat may be cut with the sickle, 
with the cradle, (Fig. 38,) or by 
the reaping machine, very similar in 
appearance to the 
mowing macliine, 
A reaper in opera- 
tion is shown in 
figure 39. 

745. All the grain 
crops may be cut in 
the same manner, 
but oats and barley 
are most commonly 
mown and dried 
somewhat like hay, while the other grains are more 
frequently cradled or cut with the machine. 

746. Indian corn should be gathered when the ears are 
glazed, but not perfectly hard. It is customary in many 
parts of New England, to cut the tops above the ears a 
little before this time, and when the stalks are still rather 
green. The corn is afterwards cut up near the ground, 
and taken to the barn to be husked. In other sections 




"-mm^^^f^ 



I 



Fig. 39. 



TREATMENT OF POTATOES. 213 

the practice of cutting up at the ground and stocking, 
prevails. This is done after the kernel has become glazed, 
yielding but little juice when broken open, and when the 
leaves have begun to turn, but are still green. This 
practice saves labor, and adds to the quantity of fodder, 
and preserves its nutritive qualities better. 

747. Potatoes should usually be dug in October. They 
may be thrown out by a furrow of the common plough, 
or with the spade or hoe, but the eight-pronged manure 
fork is better than either. They are liable to be injured 
by lying in the sun after they are dug, and if exposed to 
its direct rays are apt to lose their mealiness. But if kept 
in the shade until they are put into the cellar, they 
continue mealy much longer. 

748. If the tuber of the potato while growing is exposed 
to the light and air by lying near or on the surface, it 
becomes disagreeable to the taste, green and waxy, and 
sometimes even poisonous, and when cooked will be found 
to be soggy. The effect produced on potatoes lying in the 
sun after digging is a little like this, though much less in 
degree, perhaps, on account of the shorter time they are 
exposed. But seed potatoes may be exposed to the sun 
before planting with great benefit. 

749. The harvesting of turnips should be commenced 
in the early part of November. The Swede or ruta-baga, 
may be lifted out of the ground, the tops cut and the roots 
stored in a cool, airy cellar. The tap-root may be cut 
off to prevent sprouting in the cellar. 

750. Carrots may remain in the groimd till the late 
hard frosts, or till the early part of November. They 
may first be topped in the ground by running a sharp 
hoe or knife, (Fig. 40,) along the rows, and then may be 
raised with the common hand-fork, or a deep furrow may 




214 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 

be made by the plough run- 
ning as near as practicable to 
each row, after which they 
„. ,^ may be easily thrown out. 

Fig. 40. '' "^ . 

After drying sufficiently, they 
are ready to be removed to the cellar. Parsnips may be 
taken up in the same way, or a part of the crop may 
be left in the ground till they are wanted to use, in 
spring. 

751. Mangolds should be pulled and stored with as 
little bruising as possible. The least injury will some- 
times cause them to decay. If properly harvested, this 
root keeps well till late into spring. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 

752. Disease is the result of deranged vital action. It 
is brought about both by predisposing and by exciting 
causes. 

753. Whatever diminishes the natural vigor of the 
plant, but does not of itself produce a specific form of dis- 
ease, as excessive stimulation, want of proper nourishment, 
and the propagation of any species for many years without 
mixing with other varieties of the same species, or in 
common language, not changing the kind of seed planted, 
is a predisposing cause. 

754. An exciting cause of disease is one which acts 
suddenly upon the previously debilitated plant, and 



REMEDY FOR MILDEW. 215 

produces such a change in its vital action as to excite a 
distinct form of disease, as sudden changes of temperature, 
or of the electrical condition of the atmosphere, hot and 
damp weather at unusual periods of the season ; also, 
sometimes, mechanical violence. 

[Note. — Fungi and insects have, by some, been con- 
sidered as exciting causes of disease, while others regard 
them as resulting from previously existing disease.] 

755. Among the diseases in which parasitic plants 
appear, or which are caused by parasitic plants, may be 
mentioned mildew, blight or red rust, smut and ergot. 

756. The term mildew, or meal dew^ is most properly 
applied to the mould or fungous growth on the leaves 
of trees and some forage plants, in the shape of white 
mealy patches. 

757. But it is most commonly applied to a disease in 
wheat and barley, also called rust. It appears in the 
shape of small spots of dingy white, oblong in shape, 
showing itself first on the upper side of the leaf, but soon 
on the lower side and the stem also. The white mildew 
attacks many species of plants, especially roses, peaches, 
hops, vines, pease, the maple tree, &c. 

758. It is first seen as round white or yellowish mealy 
spots, composed of very delicate creeping threads. As the 
disease develops, these spots throw off spores or cells, 
which attach themselves to other plants and produce 
similar fungi or spots on them. There is no other change 
in the appearance of this disease, and no change in color. 
The oidium of the vine is a kind of white mildew. 

759. The simplest and most effectual remedy for this 
is to take a lump of stone lime of two or three pounds 
weight, and about the same quantity of sulphur. Pour 
hot water on them, which, by the slacking of the lime, 

19* 



216 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OP GROWING PLANTS. 



causes both to dissolve readily in water. Tliis is sufficient 
for a barrel of water, and when used may be filled up 
again. It may be applied with a syringe or sprinkling 
pot to the foliage of affected plants. Sulphur vapor is also 
a certain remedy for mildew for plants or vines under glass. 
760. The wheat mildew is very different in its nature 
from that found on trees or vines, which may be called 
the white mildew, though its effects are somewhat similar. 

761. The white varieties of wheat appear to 
be more liable to the mildew than the red or 
spring varieties, and the bald more than the 
bearded. The most vigorous plants are most 
frequently attacked and suffer the most, and 
the disease is more destructive to plants which 
are headed out than to younger ones. Figure 
41 shows the appearance of an ear of ripe wheat 
covered with mildew. 

762. After the spots of wheat mildew have 
extended over the whole plant, they assume a 
rusty color, and throw off a fine dust which is 
yellowish at first, but soon turns brown and 
rusty by exposure. Hence the disease often 



Fig. 41. 



goes by the name of rust. 

763. Wheat growing on low, undrained lands, with a 
peaty or calcareous soil, is most liable to be attacked by 
mildew, but this disease oft^n appears on sandy soils and 
on the stiffest clays, especially when a few days of damp, 
foggy weather, are followed by a hot sunshine. 

764. No remedy is known which can be relied on to 
protect against this mildew, but the free use of salt or 
saline manures, soaking the seed in brine, or sprinkling 
the plants with salt dissolved in water at the rate of half 
a pound to the gallon, are the most effectual. 



SMUT IN OATS. 



21T 



765. Salt or brine thus used should be applied on a 
cloudy day, or just at evening. The solution of salt acts 
almost instantaneously, where it touches the parts affected 
with rust. 

766. Smut is a disease which attacks Indian 
corn, wheat, barley, oats, millet, and some other 
kinds of grasses. It derives its name from the 
fact that where it exists the receptacle of the 
seed is filled by a dark, sooty or dusty mass caused 
by an internal parasitic fungus. The first stage 
of smut in an ear of oats is shown in figure 42. 

767. The farina or mealy substance of the 
grain affected by this disease is decomposed, and 
the whole grain and the husk are covered with 
the black powder, and are often swollen to a very 



large size. 



Fiff. 42. 



768. Smut, like mildew, prevails in every variety of soil 
and in all localities and countries. But hot and moist 
climates are more favorable to its development than cold 
and dry ones. 

769. It less frequently attacks wheat, than corn and 
oats. Its presence in wheat may be known by the 
blackish color of the ear, or before the ear has burst 
from its sheath, by yellow spots which appear on the 
upper leaf, and the drying up of the point or end of this 
leaf. An ear of wheat partly sound, and partly covered 
with smut, is shown in figure 43, and another wholly 
covered with smut, and dried up, in figure 44. In oats 
the diseased plants are of a paler green, and generally 
smaller than the rest. A head of oats wholly covered 
with smut, is shown in figure 45, and an ear of barley 
completely smutted and dried up, in 46, 



218 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 





Fig. 43. Fig. 44. Fig. 45. Fig. 46. 

770. Quicklime, common salt, blue and white copperas, 
and many similar substances, liave been used with success 
to prevent smut. A sort of solution or pickle is formed 
of one or more of these substances, as lime and salt, lime 
and Glauber's salt, salt and copperas, the object being to 
make a compound corrosive enough to destroy the para- 
sitic fungus without destroying the grain. Very strong 
putrid urine, or the drainings of the stable, are sometimes 
sufficient. 

771. Before soaking the seed in any pickle or brine 
formed of the above-named substances, it should be 
thoroughly washed and cleansed in pure water, taking 
care to remove all floating grains, and to pour off the 
water without allowing it to come in contact with other 
grain, so as to convey the disease by contagion. 




CANKER IN WHEAT. 219 

772. There is a disease known by the name of blight, 
canker, smut-ball, pepper-brand, &c., which is often 
confounded with smut, but really very different. It has 
been supposed to be a fungus in the seeds of wheat, by 
means of which the farina was replaced by a whitish 
substance which finally became a fine powder, 
the outside or skin of the seed being untouched, 
and giving no signs of the presence of the disease. 
Figure 47 shows a section of a cankered grain 
of wheat. ^'^- *^- 

773. But more recent investigations indicate that it is 
caused by microscopic animalcules or thread worms, which 
possess the remarkable power of remaining perfectly dry 
and hard for years, and then regaining life and motion 
when moistened. 

774. Grain affected by this disease, becomes a hard 
shell filled with powder, which is usually white. This 
powder has no trace of starch, but is composed entirely 
of microscopic threads, which are stiff, dry, hard worms. 
When found in new grain, if placed in water, they show 
signs of life very quickly. If very old, it requires many 
hours or even days to revive them. Several thousand 
of tlK3se worms may be found in a single kernel. 

775. When these diseased grains are sown with sound, 
the moisture gradually revives the worms. They break 
through the thin shell of their prison, and seek the 
young shoots of the wheat which has germinated, are 
carried up by the growth of the plant, or, if the 
weather be wet, by their own exertions, effect a lodgment 
in the young kernel, and lay their eggs there. 

776. At the time of the ripening of the grain the 
parent worms are dead, the shells of the innumerable 
eggs which have produced larvae have been absorbed, and 



220 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 

nothing is seen on breaking through the covering of the 
seed, but what appears to be an almost impalpable powder, 
each grain of which is a dry, hard, thread-like larva. 

777. Threshing very easily breaks the thin shells which 
surround this powder, and it rises m the form of dust, 
causing severe smarting in the eyes, and some irritation 
of the throat and coughing, as the animalcules are set in 
motion by the moisture. No serious results follow, 
however, except that more or less of this dust attaches 
itself to sound kernels, thus propagating the disease. 

778. Where the seed is supposed to be at all effected in 
this way, it should be thoroughly washed in clean water, 
several times renewed. All the grains that float should 
be carefully taken out. The seed may then be soaked in 
a brine or pickle much as follows : 

779. For every two bushels of seed take three pounds 
of caustic lime in lumps, and sixteen pounds of Glauber's 
salts. Dissolve the latter in six or eight quarts of water, 
and whilst they are dissolving, slack the lime. Put the 
grain into a tub and stir well, pouring on the solution of 
Glauber's salt at the same time. Now sprinkle in the 
slacked lime, constantly stirring the seed until the whole 
is covered with lime. 

780. The term blight is properly applied to a withering 
or blasting of the foliage, by whatever cause produced. 
It may be the result of sun-stroke or frost, — a plague of 
insects or fungi. It may be caused by drought, heat, 
cold, over-maimring or insufficient nourishment, or by an 
original want of vigor in the seed. Still it is blight. 
The term is also often used in this country as including 
mildew, rust, and many other affections of the kind to 
which plants are liable. 




ERGOT IN RYE. 221 

781. Ergot is a diseased growth which is quite 
common in rye and among our grasses. It 
appears in the form of a hard, brittle, blackish 
spur, of a form represented in figure 30, and 
takes the place of the healthy seed, though very 
much larger, being sometimes more than an inch 
in length. An ear of rye attacked by ergot is 
shown in figure 48. 

782. Ergot has been supposed to be caused by 
a parasitic fungus growth starting from the ovule 
or rudimentary seed. Instead of sugar, albumen 
and the other substances of which sound grain 
is composed, this spur or morbid growth contains ^^' 
ammonia, considerable nitrogen, and an oily substance. 

783. Ergot most frequently prevails on low, damp soils, 
in sheltered situations, but often on sandy soils, and some- 
times on all varieties of soil. 

784. There is no remedy for ergot after it has appeared, 
but it may be guarded against, to some extent, by thorough 
drainage and by carefully cleansing the seed, and, if 
necessary, picking it out by hand to avoid planting any 
that is diseased. If fed to some animals, it often produces 
very bad effects. 

785. Trees, especially fruit trees, are often injured by 
pruning or grafting done unskilfully, or at the wrong 
season, or severe bruises inflicted in careless ploughing 
around them, or otherwise. 

786. Fruit trees can be pruned with safety at any time 
except in March and April. Grafting is usually done in 
May or June. Both operations should be performed 
carefully. 

787. When trees have been severely bruised, or large 
branches have been broken off by accident, the wound or 



222 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OP GROWING PLANTS. 

broken end should be well covered over with clay or with 
grafting wax. Many valuable trees might be saved from 
permanent injury or destruction in this way. 

788. Some of the insects most injurious to vegetation 
are cut-worms, apple-tree caterpillars, canker worms, 
apple-tree borers, codling-moths, the curculio, the striped 
or cucumber-bug, the squash-bug, the onion-fly, the wheat 
midge, the chinch-bug and the army worm. 

789. The cut-worms destroy many of our garden and 
field vegetables by eating off their tender stalks at the 
surface of the ground. They are the caterpillars of moths 
belonging to the night-flying division, one of which is 
represented in figure 49, and the. cut-worm in figure 50. 






Fig. 49. Fig. 50. 

790. If holes be made with an iron bar or smooth 
round stick near the roots of the plant, the worms will 
fall into them, and may be killed ; they may also be 
found early in the day close to the roots of the plants 
they have cut down during the night. 

791. Certain species of ground-beetles, and iclmeumon- 
flies destroy great numbers of cut-worms, and similar 
caterpillars, and hence are very useful to the farmer, and 
should be recognized and spared on this account. 

792. The ground-beetles are very active in their 
motions, and although varying greatly in size, more or 
less resemble in their general outline and conformation, 
figure 51, which is one of the largest of its class, and is 
commonly called the caterpillar-hunter. 



THE APPLE-TREE CATERPILLAR. 



223 



793. Ichneumon-flics arc of various species and dimen- 
sions, but they all have four whigs of membranous 
texture, and the general appearance of a wasp. Some 
of them pierce the eggs of other insects and deposit 
their own within them ; others insert them beneath the 
skin of a living caterpillar, where they hatch into little 
maggots, which devour its flesh and soon put an end to 
its life. Figure 52 represents a species (natural size and 
magnified) which deposits its eggs in the body of the 
common grape-vine caterpillar. Figure 53 shows the 
caterpillar after the maggots of the ichneumon have 
finished eating and, returning through the skin of the 
caterpillar, have spun their cocoons upon its surface. 




Fig. 51. Fig. 53. 

794. The apple-tree caterpillar may be guarded 
against by carefully removing all the nests as soon 
as perceived, and crushing both larvae and nests. 
If this practice be well followed up, they may be 
eradicated from a whole neighborhood. A round 
brush fixed to the end of a long pole is the most 
convenient instrument for reaching the nest. The eggs, 
(Fig. 54,) which are laid the previous season, may be 

20 



224 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 

seen in the form of a small bracelet or broad 

ring around the slender twigs when the leaves 

have fallen from the trees. With a little 

observation these can be readily disthiguished, 

and by means of a light ladder the twigs 

containing them may be reached, when they 

should be cut off and burned. This, if done 

any time during the winter, will save much 

trouble in the spring after they have hatched. 

795. The best means of protecting trees 

Fig. 54. against the canker-worm, (Fig. 5^,) is by 

preventing the deposit of the egg. The wingless female 

(Fig. 56,) lays her eggs (Fig. 57, natural size and 





Fig. 55. Fig. 56. Fig. 57. 

magnified,) on the bark of the tree, and ascends the tree 
for this purpose during the warm days of winter and 
spring. A coating of tar on a strip of cloth round 
the trunk, frequently renewed during that time, will often 
prevent her ascent ; or a little trough may be put round 
the tree filled with a mixture of tar and oil, enough 
oil being put in to keep it in a liquid state, or with 
the "bitter water" obtained in the 
manufacture of salt, which will 
have the same effect. This will 
neither freeze nor evaporate read- 
ily. The winored male is shown in 

Fig. 58. n rn 

^ figure 58. 

796. The codling moth, (Fig. 59,) produces the small 
whitish worms that bore holes into the young unripe 




CURCULIO. — APPLE-TREE BORER. 



225 



* 



Fig. 59. 




Fig. 61. 

and the 



apple and other fruit, and cause it to fall off. 

The windfalls should be picked up often and 

given to swyie, or if convenient, the swine 

may be turned into the orchard to pick them 

up. The grub will thus be prevented from 

going into the ground. Old cloths may also be tied in 

the crotches of the limbs of fruit trees. The worms take 

refuge in them and may be killed. 

797. The curculio, (Figs. 60 and 
61, the small line between them 
showing the natural size,) does much 
injury, attacking the plum particu- 
larly. Fruit bitten by it may be 
distinguished by a little crescent- 
shaped mark, and should be collected Fig. 60. 
and burned. If sheets be laid under the trees, 
trees then be shaken, the insects will fall into the sheets 
and may be put into hot water. If chickens in coops be 
kept under the trees in summer, they will destroy immense 
numbers, as do the small birds also ; toads and bats too 
do good service in this way. 

798. The apple-tree 
borer, (Fig. 62,) with 
its larva, (Fig. 63,) is 
ruining many an orchard 
where his presence is not suspected, and 
trees should frequently be examined that it 
may be discovered as soon as possible, 
enters the tree just at the surface of the 
ground, and by removing the soil and rubbing the bark 
with a coarse cloth after the first of September, the 
young insect may easily be destroyed. 





Fig. 62. 

The borer 



226 DISEASES AND ENEMIES OP GROWING PLANTS. 

799. The eggs are liatchecl in July, so that the larvas 
will have attained considerable size, and may easily be 
seen and dislodged without difficulty. Even later than 
this, careful examination will show that they are still 
near the surface, and may be reached by a slender piece 
of whalebone or wire, run into the new-made hole. 

800. The chisel and the hammer must be used only 
when all other means fail. Washing with whale-oil soap 
Avill prevent the laying of the eggs, but it will not do to 
rely on this alone. If unmolested when still quite 
young, the borer contmues his dejDredations from year to 
year. 

801. The striped beetle, (Fig. 64,) attacks 
squashes, cucumbers, melons, and other plants. 
To prevent injury from it, the plants should be 
^^' * sprinkled as soon as they are up, with plaster 
of Paris or slacked lime put on in the middle of the day, 
or they may be covered over with coarse millinet or lace, 
which answers quite as well. If squashes or cucumbers 
are not planted till the 10th of June, they will usually 
escape the attacks of this insect. 

802. Squash bugs, (Fig. 65,} may be 
destroyed by placing shingles on the ground 
round the vines, and killing the bugs which 
will be found in the mornmg collected on 
the under side of them. 

803. The onion maggot pierces the 
Pig. 65. centre of the onion and kills it, the egg 

from which the maggot proceeds being 

i ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^ *^^^ ^^^* ^^ *^^® onion fly, (Fig. 
f ^^^^^ 66.} The pupa of this insect is shown in 
Fig. 67. Fig. 66. fig^ii'e 67. The use of soot in the drills is 
the best preventive known. 




WHEAT MIDGE. — LOCUST BORER. 



227 




Fig. 68. 



804. The wheat midge, (Fig. 68, 
magnified, the small mark at the 
left shows the natural size,) is itself 
exposed to the attacks of other 
insects. An ichneumon fly deposits 
its eggs in the larvjB of the midge, 
and the larvas hatched from them 
prey upon the body on which they 
find themselves. Many are thus 
destroyed. If the stubble be col- 
lected and burned, innumerable grubs of the midge will 
be consumed, and the good work of the ichneumon be 
aided. 

805. The dor bug, as it is called, (Fig. 
69,) is properly a beetle, and the parent of 
those large white grubs which feed upon 
the roots of grass and grain, and are so 
frequently turned up by the spade or 
plough. Domestic fowls devour great 
numbers of them in the latter state, and 
many of the beetles themselves are eaten 
by skunks and weasels. 

806. The locust tree borer, (Fig. 70,) which ruins so 
many of the finest trees, is the caterpillar of a moth, 




Fig. 69. 




Fig. 70. 



which deposits its eggs in the deepest clefts of the bark. 
They hatch into grubs which commence boring into the 
very heart of the tree, piercing and mining it with their 
burrows for three years before they make their appearance 



20* 



228 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 




ill the winged form. In this state it is the most easily 
destroyed, by hanging wide-moiithed vials of sweetened 
water upon the trees, which attract not only these, but 
also many other noxious insects. 

807. Figure 71, the rose-bug as it is very 
generally but improperly called, is a beetle be- 
longing to the chafer family, and is very destructive 
to flowers and foliage. When it occurs in great 
numbers upon bushes that can be reached by 
hand, it should be shaken off into pans of hot 
The larva lives in the ground like the others of 
this family, and when turned up by the plough is greedily 
devoured by poultry. 

808. The common click-beetle or spring-beetle, 
(Fig. 72,) is the parent of the wire-worm, and 
should be killed whenever met with, as well as 
all of this family, which can be readily distin- 
guished by their faculty of springing into the 
air when laid upon their backs, by means of a 
peculiar joint beneath the thorax. 

809. The striped potato-beetle, (Fig. 73,) 
is often found eating holes through the 
leaves, in both the perfect stage and in the 
larva, which is the filthy slug so common 
and so injurious in some seasons. Lime or 
ashes sprinkled profusely upon the plants, 
will often destroy them, and when this fails, 
they can be shaken into dishes of boiling water or salt 
and water. 

810. The oak-pruner, (Fig. 74,) is the parent of a white 
grub, (Fig. 75,) which bores into the small branches and 
twigs of the oak tree, making a cylindrical burrow, and 
cutting the branch nearly through ; after which it retires 




OAK PRUNER. — MEAL WORM. 



229 



toward the end and changing into a pupa, (Fig. 76,) 
falls to the ground with the branch which is torn off by 
the wind, and remains till spring, when it emerges a 
perfect beetle, like the parent. To prevent its ravages, 
the branches found beneath the trees in the fall and 
winter should be collected and burned. 




Fig. 74. 





Fig. 77. 






Fig. 75. Fig. 76. Fig. 78. Fig. 79. 

811. The meal-worm, (Fig. 77,) which is found in 
meal chests, is hatched from eggs deposited by a common 
beetle, (Fig. 78,) which can be attracted in great 
numbers by a light in the evening, or moist meal exposed 
to the air, and should be killed wherever found. Figure 
79 represents the pupa of the same. 

812. Apple and pear trees are 
sometimes covered with small scales, 
as in figure 80, which represents 
those of the apple, natural size and 
magnified. A solution of potash, 
not too strong, or whale oil soap suds 
applied with a stiff brush, will speedily 
remove them. These insects belong to 
a very numerous class which vary greatly 




230 



DISEASES AND ENEMIES OF GROWING PLANTS. 





Fig. 82. 



ill their aijpearaiice ; some are 
covered with a white flocculent 
matter so as to entirely conceal 
their bodies, as in figure 81, 
^^* ' and others are entirely naked, 

and of various forms. The application of strong soap- 
suds, will be an almost infallible remedy for all these cases. 
813. The chinch or chintz-bug, (Fig. 82,) 
and the little-lined plant-bug, (Fig. 83,) 
are often very injurious to green and tender 
plants, of different kinds, by sucking the 
sap from them. No effectual remedy has 
yet been discovered for them, but it is 
recommended to water the crops thoroughly 
so as to bring them rapidly forward beyond 
the reach of these insects. This is only 
T /j^^\ practicable upon a small scale. Wild birds 
i f^m\ and domestic fowls destroy an incredible 
amount of these and other similar pests 
amiually, and we must take especial care 
of the former, and allow no person to kill or molest them 
upon our premises, if we would have our crops secured 
from their numerous insect enemies. 

814. The army-worm, as it is 
called, (Fig. 84,) is the cater- 
pillar of a common night-flying 
moth, (Fig. 85,) and is found in 
meadows, devouring the blades of grass, and occasionally 
in corn and grain fields. It has many enemies, in the 
form of ichneumon-flies, and other parasites, and is eaten 
by many birds. It is rare that so many escape destruction 
by these means as to prove seriously dangerous to the 
whole crop in any place. But when they make their 




Fig. 83. 



Fig. 84. 




THE ARMY WORM. 231 

appearance in unusual num- 
bers, they can be checked 
by digging in their path deep 
trenchesjwith perpendicular 
sides, into which they will 
fall and may be disposed of. 
After they reach their full Fig. 85. 

size they suddenly disappear, and may be found an inch 
or two below the surface of the ground in the shape of a 
mahogany-colored pupa, (Fig. 86.) 
After remaining in this state about a 
fortnight, they emerge in the moth form, ^'^s- 86. 

and may be killed by building fires after dark about the 
fields that were injured by them, into wliicli they will fly, 
or by suspending on the trees in the vicinity, wide- 
mouthed bottles of sweetened water. 

815. The plant-lice are a numerous family, and often 
very injurious to young shoots, by sucking the sap and 
causing the plant to wither. They are found usually in 
clusters, with and without wings, and may be distinguished 
by their rounded bodies, slender legs, and delicate pointed 
beak, which is bent underneath the body when 
not in use. Figure 87 is a good representation 
of the male of one of the most common ^^s- 
species. In some seasons vast numbers may be found 
collected upon the heads of wheat, oats, and other grain 
crops, and by depriving the fruit of its requisite amount 
of nourishment, they cause it to shrivel and ripen pre- 
maturely.* 

* For the most exact and valuable information upon Insects Injurious to 
Vegetation, reference should be made to the superbly illustrated edition of 
Dr. Harris' treatise on Insects, just published. No farmer's library is complete 
without it, and it ought to be kept for reference in every schooi-i'oom. 




232 MANAGEMENT OF FARM STOCK. 

CHAPTER XXIY. 

MANAGEMENT OP FARM STOCK. 

816. The stock of the farm consists of horned cattle, 
horses, sheep, swine and poultry. 

817. Horned cattle are kept chiefly for their milk, their 
labor, and for the production of beef. They also consume 
and thus make useful many products of the farm which 
would otherwise be lost, and furnish manure for the 
enrichment of the soil. 

818. They are divided into certain races, breeds or 
families, distinguished by different qualities or character- 
istics which have been produced or developed by varieties 
of climate and soil, and by the manner in which they have 
been required to live by man. 

819. There are five distinct races or breeds in this 
country, known as Ayrshires, Jerseys, Short-horns, Devons 
and Herefords. Individuals of other breeds have been 
imported from time to time, but their number has been so 
small that they have had little effect on the stock of the 
country. 

820. No one of these breeds unites, in a very high 
degree, all desirable qualities. Some are best fitted for 
giving milk, others for beef or labor. Cattle should 
therefore be selected with regard to the specific object for 
which they are wanted, and that object should be had in 
view in their keeping. 

821. The Ayrshires take their name from the county 
of Ayr, in Scotland, where they originated seventy or 
eighty years ago. They are kept chiefly for dairy 



THE BREEDS OF CATTLE. 233 

purposes, for which they are admirably adapted, on 
account of the large quantity of milk they give in 
proportion to their size and the amount of food consumed. 
Their milk is of good quality, though not, usually, so rich 
in butter qualities as that of the Jerseys or the Devons. 
They are well adapted both for beef and for labor, though 
in these qualities they are probably surpassed by the 
Devons, or the Herefords. 

822. The Jerseys are celebrated for the richness of their 
milk, and the excellence of butter made from it. They 
came from the islands of Jersey and Guernsey, in the 
British Channel, where they have been highly valued for 
dairy qualities for many years. They are ill-adapted for 
labor, and their beef-producing qualities do not compare 
very favorably with those of some other breeds, although 
they are easily fattened, and their flesh is of good quality. 

823. The improved Short-horns are large in size, and, in 
a rich and fertile section of country, are well-adapted for 
the production of beef. They come to maturity at an 
earlier age than any other family of neat cattle, and 
attam a greater weight. 

824. They first became known in the luxuriant valley 
of the river Tees, England, and first really celebrated in 
the neighborhood of Durham. Hence they were for many 
years called Durhams or Teeswaters. They have been 
extensively introduced into this country, and have had a 
great influence upon our stock. 

825. The North Devons are remarkable for great 
uniformity of color and size, and are kept chiefly for beef 
and as working cattle. They come from Devonshire, in 
the southern part of England. They are small, hardy, 
and easily adapt themselves to short pastures. Their milk 
is rich in quality, but deficient in quantity. 



234 MANAGEMENT OF FARM STOCK. 

826. The Herefords, so-called from the county of Here- 
ford in England, where they originated, have nearly the 
same qualities as the North Devons, but their size is 
considerably larger. They are kept mainly for their beef, 
which is of peculiar excellence. 

827. These are the distinct breeds. The common stock 
of the country, often called Natives, does not constitute a 
fixed breed or race. It consists of a mixture of most of 
the established races, and is extremely variable in 4ts 
qualities. Animals might be selected as good, or perhaps 
better than could be found among the well-marked 
families, and as working oxen, they generally excel, but 
as a whole, they are not to be depended upon for any 
uniformity of qualities. 

828. Only good stock should be kept on the farm. It 
costs no more to keep a good animal than an inferior one. 
One that will scarcely pay the cost of rearing and feeding, 
will require about as much care and food as another which 
will pay a large profit. 

829o Success in raising stock will depend very much 
on its management when young. If it be not then well 
cared for, and supplied with sufficient and proper food, 
the grown animal will be of poor quality, whatever the 
breed may be. 

830. All animals require nutriment in some proportion 
to their live weight, those which are still young and 
growing, needing more in proportion than those already 
arrived at maturity. 

831. A full-grown animal requires only food enough to 
supply the daily waste of the system. One that is grow- 
ing must have enough to supply the daily waste, and to 
meet the additional demand for nutriment arising from 
its constant increase in size and weight. 



YOUNG ANIMALS. — DAIRY COWS. 235 

832. For these reasons, young animals should have 
greater care, better shelter, and more generous feed than 
they commonly do. Yet they should not be overfed ; they 
should receive enough to keep them gTowing thriftily up 
to the time of their maturity, and the necessary quantity 
must be determined, to some extent, by observation in 
each case, though general rules are sometimes laid down, 
fixing the proportion of food required at certain ages. 
• 833. Farmers are too apt to consider how they can get 
their cows through the winter with the least possible food, 
taking no care to prepare them for the giving of milk 
abundantly in the spring. 

834. In consequence, cows often come out in spring 
reduced in flesh and m blood, and have hard work to 
make up their loss by means of the food which would 
otherwise have gone to the production of milk. 

835. The less cows in milk are exposed to the colds of 
winter, the better. They eat less, thrive better, and give 
more milk, when housed all the time during extreme cold 
weather. In stormy weather it is good economy to water 
them in the stall, rather than turn them out to seek 
water in the yard, 

836. In the care of cattle, regularity is of the highest 
importance, especially in feeding. A regular system of 
feeding, milking and cleansing the stables, should be 
strictly adhered to. 

837. Cows give a greater quantity of milk in winter, if 
fed on moist and succulent food. If hay, cornstalks, straw 
and other similar substances fed out to them, are moistened 
with warm water and then allowed to stand a few hours 
in this condition, they are rendered more nutritive. 

838. When the object is to obtam the greatest quantity 
of milk, cows should have rich, juicy grass or clover, 

21 



236 MANAGEMENT OP FARM STOCK. 

brewers* grains, warm mashes, turnips, or other roots 
containing a great deal of water ; they will also do better 
for whey, if at hand, and should have as much water as 
they will drink. 

839. But if a rich milk be desired, they should be kept 
on drier food, such as clover, hay, Indian meal, shorts, 
oil cake ground into meal, and some roots. Oats and 
barley meal are good, but are generally too expensive. 

840. When cheese is to be made from the milk, ground 
beans, or pease and clover with some oil meal, are better. 
They make the milk very rich in curd, as they contain a 
large amount of gluten, which is nearly the same as the 
curd of milk. 

841. The manner of milking exerts a powerful influence 
on the productiveness of the cow. A slow and careless 
milker, or one who treats her harshly, soon dries up the 
best of cows. The animal must be approached gently, 
never struck or abused, and the operation of milking 
begin gradually, steadily increasing in rapidity, until all 
is drawn. If the milking is performed in the stall, it is a 
good plan to feed at the same time with roots or some 
other palatable food. 

842. If the object be to raise beef, a close built, round 
and compact form, with small bones and round muscles 
should be sought. Animals thus shaped require less food 
and fatten more easily, than those of heavy, bony frame 
and flat muscles. 

843. When fattening, animals should be kept quiet 
and warm, and fed on fatty or oily food, such as oil meal, 
Indian meal, good hay and turnips. A moderately dark 
stall conduces to quiet and promotes fattening. 

844. To ascertain the results of feeding under various 
circumstances, the most careful experiments were made 



EXPERIMENT IN FEEDING. 237 

upon sheep, by selecting those of nearly equal weight, 
and feeding for four months under the following condi- 
tions. One was wholly unsheltered, another m an open 
shed, and another in a close shed and in the dark. The 
food was alike, one pound of oats each per day, and as 
many turnips as they would eat. The first consumed 
nineteen hundred and twelve pounds of turnips, the second 
thirteen hundred and ninety-four pounds, and the third 
eight hundred and eighty-six pounds, or less than half of 
those eaten by the first. The first gained twenty-three 
and one-half pounds in weight, the second twenty-seven 
and one-half pounds, and the third twenty-eight and one- 
fourth pounds. For every one hundred pounds of turnips 
eaten, the first gained in weight one and one-eighth pounds, 
the second two pounds, and the third three and one-six- 
teenth pounds. The one confined in the dark ate less than 
half as much, and gained more than the unsheltered one. 

845. If the farmer wish to make as much manure as 
possible from a certain quantity of hay, straw or turnips, 
the stock should be kept in a cool place where the external 
air is not entirely excluded, and allowed to take a great 
deal of exercise. If fed on rich food, like oil or Indian 
meal, the manure of the animal is of far greater value. 

846. In general it may be stated that food which has 
been crushed, ground or cooked, is more easily and com- 
pletely digested by stock, and furnishes more nourishment. 
Three pounds of ground corn are equal to about four of 
unground, and three of cooked Indian meal, to about four 
of the same meal uncooked. Meal and roots are usually 
cooked by boiling. 

847. But where animals are already fattened, it is found 
to be better to keep them on dry, hard food for a few days 
before sending them to the butcher, as the fat is thus 



238 MANAGEMENT OF FARM STOCK. 

made harder, and the meat is more readily salted through, 
keeps better, and shrinks less in cooking. 

848. An animal in good condition will usually lose 
from thirty-two to forty per cent, of its live weight in 
dressing. If very fat and well formed, the loss will be 
about one-third, or thirty-three per cent. In a fat sheep, 
on an average, it will be from thirty-five to forty-five per 
cent. 

849. Working cattle should have strength, docility and 
quickness of action. Strength lies in the muscles and 
tendons. Docility is commonly the result of good training. 
Activity is to some extent the result of breeding, and 
certain races, like the North D evens, are remarkable for 
this quality. 

850. In most cases oxen are to be preferred to horses 
for common farm labor. They are more easily raised, 
become more valuable as they gain in size, weight and 
condition, and may be sold for beef when no longer fit for 
work. The harness used for them is cheap, and they are 
better adapted to slow and heavy work, especially on rough 
farms. Horses work faster, and are sometimes more 
profitable on easily tilled farms. 

851. Horses are classified, according to the uses to 
which they are put, into roadsters, or horses of general 
utility, farm or draught-horses, and thoroughbreds or 
racers, used mostly for sporting purposes. 

852. The horse requires a light and well-ventilated 
stable. If he stand much in a dark stall, his eyes are 
often so affected as to be irritated when he is brought 
into a strong light. In this way horses are frequently 
made skittish and unsafe. 

853. The horse should, from the first, be treated with 
great gentleness, often led about by the halter long before 



CARE IN THE STABLE. 239 

he is old enough for the harness, and made to feel that 
his master is his friend. Kind treatment will do much 
to insure docility, and greatly enhance the value of the 
animal for all practical purposes. 

854. Well-lighted barns and stables do much for the 
general health and vigor of the animal system, and a full 
supply of pure fresh air is as essential as food. Especially 
is this the case for horses. 

855 o But animals should not be exposed to currents of 
air in the stalls. A chimney-shaped box opening near 
the floor inside, and carried up and out under the eaves, 
is thought to be a good mode of creating an outward 
draught and purifying the air. 

856. The temperature of stables should be moderate, 
neither very warm nor very cold. Great warmth in 
them is unhealthy, and a considerable degree of cold 
makes a larger quantity of food necessary to keep up the 
natural animal heat. 

857. All animals should be treated with constant kind- 
ness. Nothing is so likely to overcome viciousness. The 
horse, especially, is very sensitive, and if always gently 
handled, will give his owner far less trouble, and will be 
more easily managed and much more useful. 

858. There are several breeds of sheep, the best being 
the South Downs and Cotswolds, which are generally sold 
to the butcher for mutton or lamb, and the Merino which 
furnishes the best wool. The Leicester sheep was very 
highly prized at one time, and this breed or grades which 
are known by the name of Leicesters, is thought well of 
still, but the Cotswolds and the Downs have, to a consid- 
erable extent, taken their place in localities where sheep 
are raised for the butcher. 

21* 



240 MANAGEMENT OF FARM STOCK. 

859. Li the vicinity of large markets, and where pastur- 
age is expensive, it will be found to be most profitable to 
raise sheep for the market, only making wool a secondary 
object. But in remote and mountainous regions, where 
land is cheap and not suited to cultivation, they may be 
profitably kept for the wool. Many, however, think that 
even for wool, the larger breeds may be equally profitable, 
on account of the greater weight of their long and coarse 
wool, which is well suited for many kinds of fabrics, and 
commands a good price in the market. 

860. Mutton of a choice quality, usually brings a higher 
price in the market than beef, though it costs much less 
pound for pound to produce, and the offal or waste is less. 
The objection to keeping the smaller breeds or the old 
natives, based on the expense of fences, does not apply so 
strongly to the larger or mutton breeds, like the Cotswolds, 
which are generally very quiet and easily kept. 

861. One of the most important matters to be attended 
to in the keeping of sheep, is their shelter in winter. 
They require less food, and do better when well protected, 
than when exposed. Good ventilation is also very impor- 
tant, hence it is best to give them sheds open to the south. 

862. To ascertain the difference in the cost and gain 
of proper shelter, and exposure to the weather, for sheep, 
in the milder climate of England, twenty were kept in 
the open field, and twenty others of nearly equal weights 
were kept under a comfortable shed. They were fed 
alike for the three winter months, each having one-half 
pound of linseed cake, one-half pint of barley, and a little 
hay and salt per day, and as many turnips as they would 
eat. The sheep in the field eat all the barley and oil cake, 
and about nineteen pounds of turnips each per day, as 
long as the trial lasted, and increased in all five hundred 



CARE OP SHEEP. 241 

and twelve pounds. Those under the shed consumed at 
first as much food as the others, but after the third week 
they each ate two pounds less of turnips per day, and in 
the ninth week two pounds less again or only fifteen 
pounds per day. Of the linseed cake they also ate about 
one-third less than the other lot, and yet increased in 
weight seven hundred and ninety pounds, or two hundred 
and seventy-eight pounds more than the others. 

863. The winter feed of sheep should include a proper 
portion of green and succulent food, in addition to fine 
hay or early cut clover. Unless it be of good quality, 
much of it is rejected and wasted. 

864. Ten fine-woolled or Merino sheep, will eat about 
as much as a medium-sized cow. The larger sheep 
consume more. The Merinos yield the best wool, the 
Cotswolds the most wool and mutton, and the South Downs 
mutton of the best quality. 

865. It wiU be found useful to attach bells to several 
of the flock. By this means dogs may often be prevented 
from attacking them, and if the sheep are molested a 
warning is*given. This is also a protection against foxes. 

S6Q. There are many breeds of swine, as the Suffolk, 
the Essex, the Berkshire, the Chester, &c., each of which 
has its peculiar excellence, but the more common distinc- 
tion is into large and small breeds. The choice must 
depend much on thriftiness and early maturity, or a 
disposition to fatten readily, for on these qualities will 
depend largely the profit to be derived from keeping them. 

867. The food of swme may be a little sour, without 
injury, if it does not stand till a strong fermentation takes 
place ; indeed, more pork will be obtained when green 
vegetables, meal and potatoes, are boiled and allowed to 



242 THE ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 

become sour before feeding them out, than if given while 
still sweet. 

868. Poultry may be kept to a limited extent about the 
farm house, with a large profit on the outlay, if judiciously 
managed. The attempts to keep large numbers of fowls 
together with an idea that if a few are profitable, a large 
number must be profitable in proportion, have generally 
failed. 

869. To be of any profit in winter, fowls require a 
supply of animal food. This they obtain in abundance 
in summer m the form of msects. If confined in close 
quarters, they must also have access to mineral food, such 
as oyster shells or crushed bones, with gravel and sand. 

870. Of the many varieties of fowls, the dorkings, the 
game and the black Spanish, may be considered as among 
the most useful and profitable. As a market fowl, the 
dorking is probably unsurpassed, but the choice of the 
variety is generally a matter of individual fancy. 



CHAPTER XXY. 

THE ECONOMY OP THE FARM. 

871. The success of the farmer will depend more on 
the general management of the farm, than on knowledge 
or skill in any one particular department. It is evident 
from the preceding pages that to make the greatest profit 
he must have a greater variety of knowledge, and more 
judgment and common sense than are required in any 



LOCATION OF BUILDINGS. — FENCES. 243 

merely mechanical employment, and without constant 
thought in planning and directing, he will constantly fail 
to attain the desired result, notwithstanding the most 
untiring mdustry. 

872. The choice of a location should be well considered, 
and it is especially important whether it be near or remote 
from market, since the particular branch of farming to 
be followed will depend a good deal on market facilities. 
The quality of the land should be taken into view. The 
best lands will command the highest price, other things 
being equal. But it will probably be found to be better 
to buy good lands, though the original cost be greater, 
than to spend one's time and energies in tilling a poor soil 
simply because it is cheaper. The profit to be derived is 
far greater in proportion on the former, and the original 
cost is paid off more speedily and easily. 

873. The location of the buildings requires careful 
consideration. How much time and strength will be 
wasted every year if the buildings be unnecessarily so 
placed as to require expensive teaming to and from the 
fields, or the barn and outbuildings so situated as to 
occasion many unnecessary steps, when a more judicious 
location would have avoided all ? These points have a 
direct and important bearing on the profit to be derived 
from farming. 

874. Then as to the fences required, both along the 
public ways and along division lines. What are the most 
economical? They should be constructed according to 
the purpose for which the land is to be used, whether for 
the general culture of farm crops, or for cattle or sheep 
husbandry. They can be built when other and more 
important labors are not pressing. But it should be 
remembered that all useless and unnecessary fences 



244 



THE ECONOMY OP THE FARM. 



involve a positive loss, as they are kept up at a constant 
expense, be it more or less, to say nothing of the constant 
loss of interest on the original cost, and the loss of the 
land they cover, which in many cases is no small item. 

875. It is not good economy to use old and worn out or 
otherwise unsuitable implements on the farm, nor should 
shovels, hoes, ploughs and other implements requiring 
strength for their use, be heavier than is necessary to 
accomplish the object desired. Good implements save 
labor, while those ill-suited to the purpose increase it. 

876. But though the best are, on the whole, the cheap- 
est, even if the first cost be greater, yet it does not follow 
that they should be bought beyond the actual wants of the 
farm. Expensive implements that are rarely used, increase 
the permanent investment, and occasion great inconven- 
ience, by requiring much space and care. They should not 
therefore be accumulated on the farm merely because 
they are new and good in themselves. If they are not 
wanted, the money paid for them is often worse than lost. 

877. Some may be 
'"-- - needed but a few 

hours in the course 
of the year, and yet, 
for that time, may be 
of the highest im- 
portance. In such 
?'/ cases, where the 





farm is not large 
K *^ enough to make it 



Fig. 88. — Mowing Machine, in operation. 



necessary to own the 
implements, two or 

more neighbors can buy and own them in common. 

The mowing machine, (Fig. 88,) the reaper, the stump 



WASTES OF THE FARM. 245 

puller, the stone lifter and the threshing machine, in a 
section of small farms, may be obtained in this way. 

878. The storage and preservation of implements 
require thought and attention. Exposure to the weather 
will often rust and otherwise injure farming tools, while 
a little care will preserve them. Some system of manage- 
ment should be adopted for saving the more expensive 
ones from unnecessary injury. 

879. The cost of a well-arranged tool room will not 
seem great, when we consider its convenience, and the 
saving which may be effected by it. " A place for every 
thing and every thing in its place," is a maxim nowhere 
more important than on the farm. On many farms much 
time is wasted in searching for tools left out of place and 
ill cared for, which should be saved. 

880. A mistake not unfrequently made by farmers, is 
that of undertaking more than their capital will warrant. 
Profit depends more on thoroughness and quality of 
cultivation than on the quantity of land put under tillage. 
If a man has a large capital, can employ a strong force, and 
has the capacity and mdustry to direct extensive operations, 
he can cultivate a large farm, perhaps, to a profit. But 
if he has only a small capital, and is mainly dependent on 
his own labor, he should limit his operations accordingly. 

881. This error of undertaking too much, often occa- 
sions the waste of many things, the value of which, in the 
aggregate, would amount to a good profit on the whole 
capital invested in the farm, if the waste were avoided. 
For want of means, the farmer is often obliged to sell at 
low prices, and buy at unfavorable times. Tliis, perhaps, 
leads to a failure, or at least makes life uncomfortable, 
when the same knowledge and energies on a smaller farm 
would have obtained complete success. 



246 THE ECONOMY OP THE FARM. 

882. After expending time and labor, both of which 
have a distinct money value, in j^loughing and planting, 
none can doubt that it is good economy, after the crops 
are well started, to guard them carefully against their 
various enemies, and to give the additional time and labor 
necessary for this purpose. 

883. After corn is up, for instance, it is worth while to 
protect it from birds and insects. So it is time well spent 
to examine every hill once in every three or four days 
till it is well grown, to arrest the work of the cut worm, 
found at the root of many a plant. If taken in season, 
he can do little injury. The plant will give a sure 
indication of his presence before it is entirely cut off and 
destroyed. It is important also to examine the trees of 
the orchard, and dig out the borer. 

884. Great losses might be avoided, if a regular system 
like this were adopted with regard to every crop. If it 
is worth planting, it is surely worth the trouble of pro- 
tecting. 

885. The wastes of the farm are innumerable. Mention 
has already been made of losses arising from badly arranged 
and ill-constructed farm buildings, but perhaps the want of 
economy and skill in the management of fertilizers, is a 
source of greater loss than any thing else upon most farms. 

886. No matter what particular course of culture may 
be adopted, it is only by the application of a sufficient 
quantity of fertilizers, of the right quality, that the farmer 
can keep up and increase the fertility of his land, and 
cause it to produce more abundant crops every year. 

887. The utmost knowledge and skill should, therefore, 
be directed to the increase and preservation of every thing 
that can be turned to good account. Let nothing be 
wasted. Draw from the muck bed, or from any retentive 



MANURES. — YOUNG STOCK. 247 

subsoil, a sufficient quantity of absorbents to mix with 
the materials in the barn cellar. 

888. A compost may be formed of bones, ashes, old 
mortar, dead animal matter, loam, scrapings from the road 
side, and many other things worth saving, and if the run 
fronj the sink-spout and the water from the wash tubs, 
could be directed upon such a compost, a large amount 
of valuable manure might be added in the course of the 
year, to that now made on most farms. 

889. The most direct method of increasing the fertility 
of the farm, is the keeping of a great number of cattle, 
feeding them well, and supplying a great deal of litter. 
With an abundance of grass, the farmer can keep more 
cattle ; with well fed cattle he has more manure, and with 
this he can increase his crops. But it should be remem- 
bered that no more stock ought to be kept than can be 
well fed. 

890. If a farm is to be stocked to its utmost capacity, 
green fodder should be cultivated, and it will be found 
advantageous to devote a considerable space to corn, to be 
cut up and fed green, and to clover and root crops. If 
the stock are kept in the barn or in small lots near at 
hand, the manure may be saved and increased by adding 
loam and other materials, while the outlands may be kept 
in grass and made to produce abundant crops by means 
of liberal top dressings. 

891. The losses arising from wintering stock poorly, 
and from injudicious feeding in general, are vastly greater 
than most people suppose. Even where working and 
fattening cattle are well sheltered and well fed, young 
stock often have but little shelter, with coarse swale hay 
or straw to eat, and are left to take care of themselves. 
Young animals should be kept growing rapidly, so as to 

22 



248 THE ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 

develop their muscles and increase their size. They come 
to maturity earlier, and yield more profit, when well 
taken care of? In their case bad treatment is the worst 
possible economy. They must have nutritious food and 
enough of it, if any profit is to be derived from them. 

892. Among the wastes of the farm may be mentipned 
the spaces along division walls, so often grown up with 
bushes and entirely lost to cultivation, giving an unsightly 
appearance to the lot, and forming a seed-bed for weeds. 
Many a load of rich loam might be taken from these head- 
lands and spread upon the rest of the piece, to great 
advantage. 

893. Some farmers make a practice of throwing the 
small stones on the stubble lands into heaps upon the 
grass, and letting them lie there to be mown over year 
after year. In many cases they are not removed till the 
land is i^loughed up again. No man who manages in this 
slovenly way deserves to succeed. 

894. A garden should be found on every farm at a 
convenient distance from the house. This is too often 
neglected, though it pays a greater profit, if its produce 
be estimated at its fair market value, than any other 
portion of the farm. An abundance of vegetables, of 
various kinds, both early and late, does much to keep 
down the expenses of the table, and tends to promote the 
health of the family. It costs little time, and that little 
in the form of odd moments. 

895. A hot-bed is a convenient means of starting many 
early vegetables, either for market or for family use. It 
may be made at a season of leisure, and costs but little. 

896. The loam to be used for this purpose, should be 
selected and thrown into a heap in September. The 
construction of a frame may be deferred till winter. 



HOW TO FORM A HOT-BED. 249 

897. To make the frame, take two-inch stuif and spike 
it to corner posts or joists, making the back side twice as 
high as the front, so as to give the proper inchnation to 
the sashes. The frame may be four or five feet wide, and 
nine or twelve feet long. If the back and front are 
fastened by iron bolts and screws, the frame can easily be 
taken to pieces and laid away when not in use. 

898. A bed of nine feet long will require three sashes. 
Where the sashes meet, a piece of wood three inches wide 
and two thick, should be set in from the back to front for 
the sashes to run upon, and it may extend back a foot or 
two beyond the body of the frame. 

899. Select a south-east exposure. Dig down one foot, 
making the hole six inches larger every way than the 
frame. Drive down joists at the corners, and nail to their 
outsides two-inch plank, letting the top come up about to 
the top of the ground, the size of this structure corres- 
ponding to that of the frame, so that the latter will set 
firmly upon it. The bed itself should be made about the 
middle of March. 

900. For the heating material, take coarse fresh manure 
from the horse stables, shake it up well and mix thor- 
oughly, then put it evenly into the bed, beating it down 
with the fork, but not treading upon it. Raise it up two 
feet or so, the back part higher than the front, and make 
the whole about six inches higher than it is intended to 
have it stand, to allow for settling. 

901. To get a steady and long heat, alternate layers of 
tan bark and manure may be used, or a mixture of leaves 
with the manure, will do. Something of the kind is 
important, to make the heat hold out well. 

902. The sashes may be put on after the bed is formed, 
and the heat will begin to rise in two or three days, when 



250 THE ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 

the sash may be slightly raised to let the steam pass oiF, 
and soon after the loam may be lightly spread over the 
manure to the depth of six or seven inches. 

903. A day or two after the loam has been added, the 
bed will be ready for the seed, which is generally sown in 
drills across the bed. 

904. Sometimes the manure ferments so rapidly as to 
give out an amount of hot steam sufficient to destroy the 
roots of tender plants. This danger can be avoided by 
sowing the seed in small flower pots set into the soil up 
to the rims, which may be raised when the heat is too 
intense, and lowered again as it moderates. 

905. The same object may be effected by thrusting 
down a large stick in several places in the bed, and with- 
drawing it, leaving open holes which will soon lessen the 
intensity of the heat. 

906. A sharp pointed stick thrust down into the manure 
and allowed to remain a few mmutes, will show well 
enough the degree of heat there. 

907. But constant watchfulness is required to secure 
such ventilation as will prevent over-heating and a feeble 
growth, and the frames should be open at proper times 
for this purpose, but the external air must be let in 
cautiously, and only when it is not very cold, or the plants 
will be injured by the chill. 

908. Cucumbers and similar plants may be sown on 
pieces of inverted sod in the bed, when they are to be 
started early ; they can then be removed to the garden 
without injury as soon as the season admits of it. 

909. Cabbages, cauliflowers, melons, tomatoes, peppers, 
celery, lettuce and many other plants, may be started in 
the hot-bed, to be transplanted to the garden as soon as 
the season is far enough advanced. 



CULTURE OF FRUIT. 251 

910. Hot-beds heated by hot water or steam can be more 
easily regulated, but the plan described above is the 
simplest, cheapest, and often the only practicable method 
on the farm. Even with this simple arrangement, how- 
ever, care and experience are necessary to secure success. 

911. The culture of fruit is of itself sufficiently attrac- 
tive to secure some attention. But too many manage 
their orchards as if they thought it enough to set out the 
trees, without bestowing any care upon them afterwards. 
There is no economy in buying poor or even second-rate 
trees. Get the best and set them out in the best manner. 
But one or two standard varieties known and esteemed in 
the market, are far more profitable than a great many. 

912. Young fruit trees pay well for great care and 
attention. Enrich the land, therefore, and keep it under 
high cultivation for the first few years. After the trees 
have come into bearing, no exhausting crops should be 
allowed under them, unless manure enough is used for 
both. It is not well to starve fruit trees for the sake of a 
less valuable crop. But some of the smaller fruits Hke 
currants, raspberries or blackberries, all of which admit 
of partial shadmg, may be tolerated in apple and pear 
orchards. 

913. If trees are found to be making wood too fast to 
bear fruit well in rich and highly tilled soil, laying down 
the land to grass is generally enough to check their too 
rapid growth, and bring them into a bearing condition. 
If the land be already in grass and a greater growth is 
desired, the grass may be spaded up in a circle of ten or 
twelve feet from the tree. The rootlets extend out in 
every direction as far as the ends of the branches, and 
often farther. A foot or two spaded up round the tree 
is, therefore, of very little service. But the surface soil 

22* 



252 THE ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 

under fruit trees should not be stirred to a depth of 
more than four inches. It is better to manure on the 
surface. 

914. Pruning should begin while the tree is young, but 
little being done at a time, and should be contmued when 
necessary to bring the tree into proper shape. If a young 
tree is trimmed, the activity of the sap soon heals up the 
wound. Not so an old tree. The best time to prune 
fruit trees is late in the fall, or early in winter before the 
sap has started, or in midsummer after it has thickened 
so as not to flow rapidly. But pruning may be done at 
any time during the year except March and April, when 
it should be avoided both for fruit and ornamental trees. 

915. Apples and pears should be taken from the tree 
before the ripening process has advanced far. A summer 
pear fully ripened on the tree, is very inferior to one 
ripened in a cool, dry place not exposed to the air. The 
natural process of ripening on the tree appears to benefit 
the seed merely, while woody fibre is rapidly formed in 
the fruit, but if the fruit be taken off and laid away just 
before beginning to ripen, sugar and juice are elaborated 
instead. Pears otherwise inferior may thus be made juicy 
and delicious. 

916. It is easy to have a constant supply of healthful 
fruits through the season. Tlie strawberry deserves more 
general and careful attention than it receives. After the 
crop has been picked in June and July, let the runners 
spread, and give them a deep rich soil to strike into, 
merely thinning out the weaker ones. In this way the 
vines are easily renewed from year to year. 

917. The raspberry and the blackberry may stand 
under trees, or along the sides of walls or fences. When 
they have done bearing, the old fruit stalks should be cut 



SMALL FRUITS. ORNAMENTAL TREES. 253 

out and a few of the weaker caues also. Six canes of the 
new growth to the square foot may be allowed to stand, 
and perfect themselves for next year's bearing. It is well 
to lay them down and cover them over with straw or 
earth, as a winter protection. 

918. The gooseberry does best in a moist situation, 
somewhat shaded. Dry hot weather, if exposed to the 
direct rays of the sun, often causes it to mildew. A heavy 
mulching of salt or meadow hay around the roots, is 
useful to it.' A mulcliing of old hay or straw about the 
roots of all trees and shrubs enriclies the land, and prevents 
the ill effects of a summer drought. 

919. Grapes should be set about the twentieth of 
October, if convenient, but they do very well if set out 
in spring. The best time to prune or cut them in, is in 
the month of November. The first year after they are 
set out they may be allowed to run at random, to be cut 
back to within eighteen inches or two feet of the ground 
in November. The object is to get a strong and healthy 
growth of wood before they are brought to bearing 
freely. 

920. Trees planted for ornamental purposes around the 
house and along the road-sides, add not only to the beauty 
of the homestead and the landscape, but to the real and 
permanent value of the estate, and thus pay well for the 
labor and care bestowed upon them. 

921. The negligence as to cutting grass and grain at 
the proper season, and allowing it to get too ripe, is a 
source of very serious loss on many farms. The time 
of cutting wheat and all the other grains very materially 
affects the proportion of flour and bran, or the finer and 
coarser parts in the flour or meal. The grain is heavier, 
sweeter and whiter when cut ten or twelve days before 



254 THE ECONOMY OF THE FARM. 

full ripeness, than if allowed to reach perfect maturity. 
It also measures more and makes more flour. 

922. When the grain is still soft or in the milk, it con- 
tains but little woody fibre. Starch, gluten and sugar, in 
which the nutritive value consists, are then most abundant. 
As the ripening process advances, the woody fibre increases. 
The skin or outer covering of the grain rapidly thickens, 
and loses its fine color. It assumes a dull and husky 
appearance in the bm, if allowed to ripen fully, and is 
really worth considerably less than if cut at the proper 
season. 

923. The same is true of all the small grains. Oats 
especially, the straw of which is fed to stock, should be 
cut while still green, or when only slightly turned. The 
early cut yield as much and as plump grain as those 
which get dead ripe, and the straw is far more valuable. 

924. The keeping of accurate accounts is indispensable 
to complete success in farming. Without them the farmer 
can never see just where he stands, or whether he is 
making or losing money by this or that course of culture. 
It is well to keep a separate debit and credit account for 
each lot, charging it with all that is expended upon it 
from time to time in labor, manure and seed, and crediting 
it with the crops produced. At the end of the year the 
balance will show at a glance the gain or loss for the 
season. 

925. And so let a separate account be kept for each 
department, a stock account, an account of household 
and personal expenses, &c. In this way a much better 
idea can be obtained of the actual state of our affairs at 
any particular time, than in any other. 



MANAGEMENT OF THE DAIRY. 255 

CHAPTER XXYI. 

ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

926. The success and profit of any farming enterprise 
will in many cases depend very much upon the thrifty 
and judicious management of matters within the house. 
The exercise of skill, prudence and good judgment on the 
part of the farmer's wife, is called for in a thousand ways. 

927. Take the dairy as an example. Costly barns, well- 
selected cows and judicious feeding in the butter or 
cheese dairy are of little avail, if the products are to be 
depreciated in value by imperfect modes of preparing 
them for market, where the final judgment is to be pro- 
nounced upon them, and the price will vary according to 
their quality. 

928. The care of milk forms so important a part of the 
duties of every housekeeper, and it enters so largely into 
many processes of cooking in every household, that its 
character and properties should be well understood. 

929. Milk is an opaque fluid of a whitish color with a 
sweet and agreeable taste, and is composed chiefly of 
caseine or curd, which gives' it its strength, and from 
which cheese is made ; an oily substance which gives it 
richness, and which is separated in the form of cream and 
butter ; a sugar of milk which gives it sweetness, and a 
watery substance which makes it refreshing as a beverage, 
and which is separated from the other constituents in 
cheese making, and known as whey. 

930. The fatty matter in pure milk varies from two 
and a half to six and a half per cent., the caseous or 



256 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

cheesy matter from three to ten per cent., and the serous 
matter or whey from eighty to mnety per cent., the pro- 
portions of these several substances varying according 
to the kind of animal, the food used and other circum- 
stances. 

931. Though to the naked eye it appears to be of the 
same character throughout, under the microscope* a 
myriad of little round or oval globules, of unequal sizes, 
are seen floating in the watery matter. These globules 
are particles of butter enclosed in a thin film of cheesy 
matter. They are so minute that they filter through the 
finest paper. 

932. Milk weighs about four per cent, more than water. 
Cold condenses while heat liquefies it. The elements of 
which it is composed, being different in character and 
specific gravity, undergo rapid changes when at rest. 
The oily or butter particles being lighter than the rest, 
soon begin to rise to the surface in the form of a yellowish 
semi-liquid cream, while the greater specific gravity of 
the whey carries it down. 

933. The butter particles in rising to the surface, bring 
up with them many cheesy particles, which mechanically 
adhere to their external surfaces, thus giving the cream 
more or less of a white instead of a yellow color, as well 
as many watery particles which make it thinner than it 
would otherwise be. 

934. If the globules rose up free from the adhesion of 
other substances, they would appear in the form of pure 
butter, and the process of churning would be unnecessary. 
The collection, or coagulation of the cheesy particles, by 
which the curd becomes separated from the whey, some- 
times takes place so rapidly, from the effect of great heat 
and sudden changes in the atmosphere, that there is not 



MILK AND CREAM. 257 

time for the butter particles to rise to the surface, and 
they remain mixed up with the curd. 

935. When exposed to a warm atmosphere, milk readily 
becomes sour, its sugar of milk becoming what is called 
lactic acid. It is this sugar and the chemical changes to 
which it gives rise, that make milk susceptible of under- 
going all degrees of fermentation, and of being made into 
a fermented and palatable but intoxicating liquor, which 
on distillation produces pure alcohol. 

936. Milk will generally yield from ten to fifteen per 
cent, of its own volume of cream, the average being 
about twelve and a half per cent. Eight quarts of milk 
of average richness, will therefore give about one quart 
of cream. But the milk of some cows fed on rich food, 
will far exceed this, sometimes furnishing twenty per cent, 
of cream, and in very rare instances, twenty-five and 
twenty-six per cent. The quantity of cream to be obtained 
from milk is much more uniform than the quantity of 
butter from cream. Rich milk is lighter in weight than 
poor. 

937. The temperature of milk as it comes from the 
cow is about blood heat, or ninety-eight degrees of Fahren- 
heit, and it should be cooled as little as possible before 
coming to rest in the pan. The depth of milk in the pan 
should be shallow, not greater than two or three inches. 
A moderate warmth and shallow depth facilitate the rising 
of the cream. The temperature of the dairy room should 
not vary much from fifty-eight degrees. 

938. Milk is extremely sensitive to external influences, 
and hence the utmost cleanliness is necessary to preserve 
it for any length of time. The pails, strainers and pans, 
the milk room, and in short all the surroundings, must 



258 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

be kept neat and clean, to an extent which only the best 
dahy women can appreciate. 

939. The largest butter globules being comparatively 
the lightest, begin to rise first after the milk comes to rest 
in the pan, and form the first layer of cream, which is the 
best, since it is less filled with cheesy particles. The next 
largest rise a little more slowly, are more entangled with 
other substances and bring more of them to the surface. 
The smallest rise the most slowly of all, are loaded with 
caseous matter and produce inferior cream and butter. 
The most delicate cream, and the sweetest and most 
fragrant butter are obtained by skimming only a few 
hours after the milk is set. 

940. On large dairy farms, a building is generally 
erected as a dairy house. This should be at a distance 
from low damp places, from which disagreeable exhalations 
may rise, and should be well-ventilated and kept constantly 
clean and sweet by the free use of pure water. 

941. But in smaller dairies economy dictates the use 
of a room in the house. This should be, if possible, on 
the north side, and used exclusively for this purpose. 
Most cellars are unsuitable for setting milk, but where a 
large and airy room is partitioned off from the rest of the 
cellar, and can be thoroughly ventilated by windows, a 
greater uniformity of temperature can be secured there 
than on the floor above. Such a room may be used to 
advantage, but it should have a floor of gravel or loam, 
dry and porous, and without cement. 

942. Carbonic acid, a heavy and noxious gas, is apt to 
infect the atmosphere near the bottom of a cellar, and a 
porous floor acts as an absorbent. It is evident that cream 
will not rise so quickly or so well when the milk pans are 
set on the cellar bottom. The air is less pure, and the 



THE MILK STAND. 



259 



cream is liable to become acrid. When the object is to 
obtain the most cream in tlie shortest time, the milk 
shonld stand on shelves from fonr to six feet from the 
floor, aronnd which a free circulation of air can be had 
from the windows. 

943. A very convenient 
milk stand is represented 
in figure 88. It is made 
of light seasoned wood in 
an octagonal form, and 
will hold one hundred 
and seventy-six pans of 
the ordinary form and 
size. It is simple and 
easily constructed, econo- 
mizes space, and may be 
adapted to a room of any 
size used for this or a 
similar purpose. If a 
stream of pure water be 
near at hand, it may be Fig. 88. 

brought in under the stand by one channel and taken out 
by another, thus keeping up a constant circulation under 
the milk stand. This is regarded as highly important by 
many dairymen. ^ 

944. Milk pans are generally made of tin, tnis having 
been found to be the best on the whole. After the milk 
has stood from eighteen to twenty-four hours in a favorable 
place, the cream may be removed and placed in stone jars 
where it is kept till the churning. It is always best to 
churn as often as possible ; in large dairies every day, in 
smaller ones every other day. But where this is not 
practicable, put the cream into a stone jar and sprinkle 

23 




260 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

over a little pure fine salt. When more cream is added, 
stir up the whole together and sprinkle over it a little 
more salt, and so on till there is enough to churn. 

945. Butter may be got from cream when at a temper- 
ature ranging from forty-five to seventy-five degrees 
Faln^enheit, but it is a matter of the utmost nicety to 
regulate the temperature so as to get the best quality of 
butter from it. Careful experiments have seemed to show 
that the cream being at about fifty-one degrees at the 
beginning of the churning, the best quality of butter may 
be obtained from it. The temperature rises during the 
operation several degrees, depending much on the time it 
takes. If it were fifty-one or fifty-two degrees at the 
beginning, it would be about fifty-five degrees at the close. 
But if the object be to obtain the greatest quantity of 
butter from cream, the churning may be commenced with 
the cream at fifty-six degrees, and the temperature will 
gradually rise to about sixty. The greatest quantity of 
butter of the best quality, is got from cream standing at 
about fifty-three degrees. To bring the cream to a proper 
temperature it may be lowered into the water in a well 
and remain over night in hot weather, or receive the 
addition of a little warm water in winter. 

946. The operation of churning should not be hurried. 
The butte^from cream churned from a half to three- 
quarters of an hour, is of far better quality and consist- 
ency than that churned in five or ten minutes, in which 
time it may be brought with a higher temperature of the 
cream. 

947. A simple square box turning on an axle is one 
of the best forms of the churn. It is the concussion 
rather than the motion which brings the butter, and this 
form of churn gives it as well as the dasher. The cream 



THE BUTTER WORKER. 



261 




takes a compound motion, and the concussion against 
the sides and right angled corners is very g-reat. 

948. After 
the butter has 



come, it must 
be thoroughly 
worked till the 
buttermilk is 
removed. The 
best way of 
doing this is 
on the butter 
worker, (Fig. 
89.) After roU- 
ing, it may be ^^g- ^9- 

slightly salted. A large sponge covered with a clean cloth is 
a most useful article for removing the milk from the surface 
of the butter, where it will be found to stand in little round 
globules after it has been pressed or worked. With the 
sponge nearly every particle of milk may be taken off. In 
warm weather have a pan of ice water at hand, and after 
using the sponge soak it in the water, and rinse and press 
it out dry to use again. Butter made in this careful way 
will keep better than any other, as the buttermilk, often 
imperfectly worked out, does more to destroy its sweet- 
ness and solidity than any thing else. 

949. Another simple 
form of the butter work- 
er is shown in figure 90. 
A plain apple tree slab c 
is better than marble for "''''''iSiifff,, 
the butter to lie on. It """^'^is^k^^-^^^^^^^ 

would not be either ^^s- 90. " 




262 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

difficult or expensive to fix this upon a common table. 
The attachment of one end of the roller, as shown in 
figure 89, by a lever, is not necessary, but saves strength 
in working. The hands should never come in direct 
contact with the butter if it can be avoided, as it may be 
by either form of the butter worker. 

950. After completely removing the buttermilk, the 
butter may be formed into pound lumps, or put down 
into firkins made of white oak, which should first be well 
cleansed. When thus made, it will keep a long time with 
little salting. Over-salted butter is not only less agreeable 
to the taste, but less healthy than that which is fresh and 
sweet. In general, much salt is needed only when butter 
is badly worked over, and to prevent the ill effects of 
neglect. 

951. It is sometimes necessary to pack butter in new 
boxes, and the dairy woman should know how to prevent 
an unpleasant flavor from being imparted to the butter by 
the fresh wood. For this purpose use common or bi-car- 
bonate of soda, putting about a pound into each thirty-two 
pound box, and pouring boiling water upon it. If the 
solution be allowed to stand in the box over night, the 
box may be safely used the next day. The adoption of 
this simple precaution would often prevent great losses. 

952. In medium-sized dairies the nicest quality of 
butter might be made from cream taken off after standing 
in a favorable position for twelve or eighteen hours, when 
the skinuned milk would still make a fine quality of 
cheese. 

953. Cheese is made from the caseine in the milk. If 
allowed to become sour, milk will curdle, when the 
whey may be separated from it. But in practice the curd 
is produced by the addition of an acid in the form of 



CHEESE MAKING. 263 

rennet, which is the stomach of the young calf prepared 
by washing, salting, drying and preservation. 

954. Cheese may be made entirely of cream, from whole 
or unskimmed milk with the cream of other milk added, 
from milk from which a part of the cream has been taken, 
from ordmary skim milk, from milk that has been skimmed 
three or four times so as to remove nearly every particle 
of cream, or even from buttermilk. The acid used to 
curdle the milk acts only on the caseine and not on the 
butter particles. The latter may remain imbedded in the 
curd as it hardens, and will increase the richness and 
flavor of the cheese, but they do not add at all to its 
firmness, which is due to the caseine alone. 

955. The process of cheese making is both chemical 
and mechanical. The milk is heated to about ninety-five 
degrees, when the rennet is added, the chemical action 
being thus hastened, and the separation of the whey 
facilitated. If the rennet be strong and good, enough 
may be used to curd the milk in about half an hour. It 
is then allowed to stand for half an hour or an hour, 
when it is cut across in different directions, to allow the 
whey to work out more freely. 

956. The preparation of the rennet requires great 
care ; indeed, every process in cheese making calls for 
the exercise of much judgment and experience. Many 
fail in consequence of hurrying the pressing. The cheese 
is usually allowed to stand in the press only one day, 
though a longer time would make a much better cheese. 
A self-acting cheese press is shown m figure 91. 

957. A very small advance in the price of dairy pro- 
ducts from improved quality, would add very largely to 
the profits of many a farm. These articles are generally 
the last on which purchasers are disposed to economize, 

23* 



264 



ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 




Fig. 91. 



it is the quality of 
the articles they look at. 
Every thing depends on 
quality.* 

958. There is no more 
important branch of do- 
mestic economy than that 
wliich relates to the use 
of the great staples of 
human food, especially 
the articles employed in 
making bread. A large 
part of the ill health and 
unhappiness of families 
arises from bad or defec- 
tive cookmg. The really 
good and healthy bread 
made in this country 
bears but a very small 



proportion to that of decidedly poor quality. 

959. Undoubtedly this may in part be ascribed to the 
flour which the housekeeper is obliged to use. Its quality 
varies exceedingly m different samples, and we cannot 
always obtain what is really good. 

960. Every hundred pounds of wheat contain from 
fifty-five to sixty-eight pounds of starch, from ten to 
twenty pounds of gluten, and from one to five pounds of 
fatty matter. The relative quantities of these substances 
vary considerably in different climates and soils. Thus 
the proportion of gluten is largest in wheat grown in 



* The management of the dairy is stated in greater detail in the Treatise on 
"Milch Cows and Dairy Faxming," to which any who wish to pursue the subject 
farther can refer. 




COMPOSITION OP GRAINS. 266 

quite warm countries. It is larger in Virginia or Mary- 
land wheat than in that of Michigan or the Canadas. 

961. Starch, as we have seen, is a white powder which 
forms a large part of the substance of most of the grains, 
as also of the potato. A general idea of the proportion 
in which it appears in the 
grains, may be obtained 

from fioTire 92, in which the „„„ 

grains are magnified, and ^^^ 

where a represents the posi- 
tion and comparative quan- Pig 92. 
tity of the oily portions of 

a kernel of Indian corn, wheat and barley, the oil being 
in minute drops enclosed in six-sided cells, which consist 
chiefly of gluten ; b, the proportion and position of the 
starch, and c, the germ or chit, which is mainly composed 
of gluten. 

962. Gluten, as well as starch, exists in most plants, 
though the proportion in some is far greater than in others. 
It may be washed out of dough made of wheat flour, by 
placing it upon a sieve or a porous cloth tied over a deep 
dish, and pouring on water as long as it continues to run 
through of a whitish or milky color. The starch is carried 
through the cloth with the water, and the gluten is left 
on the cloth. The starch will soon settle to the bottom 
of the dish. 

963. The grinding of the wheat does not wholly crush 
the outside covering of the gram, which is harder than 
the rest. This is usually sifted out from the finer portions 
in the form of bran, and may be fed to horses or other 
animals. It is often known as shorts. 

964. On mixing water enough to moisten the whole 
mass of flour, the particles stick to each other and form 



26G ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

a smooth and elastic dough. This dough consists of 
gluten, so called from its sticky or glutinous character, 
and starch. These two substances, as we have seen, may 
be readily separated. 

965. If we add a little yeast to the flour while mixing 
with water to form dough, and let it stand some hours in 
a moderately warm place, the dough begins to ferment 
and rise, increasing considerably in bulk. 

966. In rising, little bubbles of carbonic acid gas are 
set free throughout the mass of dough, and this it is 
which makes the bread porous and light, by the stretching 
or expansion of the tenacious gluten. Set the dough in 
a hot oven, and the fermentation and rising are first 
hastened by the elevated temperature. But when the 
whole is heated up to the point of boiling water, the 
process is suddenly stopped, and the mass is fixed by the 
baking in the form it had taken when the rising was 
suddenly arrested by the heat. 

967. But why is the rising so suddenly checked in the 
oven ? The yeast we have added to the dough is in 
reality a living plant, which grows or increases with great 
activity when it comes in contact with the moisture of the 
dough, producing what we call fermentation or rising. 

968. During this process, a part of the starch in the 
flour is changed into sugar, and this sugar into alcohol 
and carbonic acid gas. This gas cannot escape from the 
dough as the elastic gluten expands, but it remains in the 
shape of bubbles. At last the heat becomes great enough 
to destroy the yeast plant, and the process of rising ceases. 
The alcohol mostly escapes in the baking. 

969. After the loaf is sufficiently baked, if we cut it 
through we find it is spongy and full of little cavities, 
made by the gas bubbles during the rising. It is then 



QUALITIES OF FLOUR. 267 

soft and agreeable. But in the course of a day or two 
the peculiar softness disappears, and the bread seems to 
be drier and crumbles readily. This apparent dryness is 
not caused by a loss of water. Stale bread contains very 
nearly the same amount of water as that newly baked. 
Both contain on an average from thirty-five to forty-live 
pounds of water in every hundred pounds. Stale bread, 
though not generally so agreeable to the taste, is very 
properly regarded as more wholesome than new. 

970. The more gluten any variety of flour contains, 
the more water will it hold. Wlien wet, the gluten does 
not dry up readily, but forms a close and tenacious coating 
around the little cells formed in rising, which neither 
allows the gas enclosed in them to escape nor the water 
to dry up and pass off in vapor, but both are retained. 

971. Now we see why flour made of wheat grown in a 
warmer climate and containing a larger per cent, of 
gluten, is sold at a higher price in the market. It is 
intrinsically more valuable. The larger amount of gluten 
not only increases its nutritive value, but its economic 
value also. It has a greater power of holding the car- 
bonic acid gas produced in the fermentation, and this 
gives it the spongy lightness always characteristic of good 
bread. It also absorbs more water, and its weight is 
greater. 

972. In an experiment said to have been carefully and 
accurately made, with two pounds of Cincinnati and two 
pounds of Alabama flour, each being mixed with a quarter 
of a pound of yeast, made into a loaf, and both baked in 
the same oven, the loaf made from the first was found to 
weigh three pounds, that from the second three and a half. 
The difference was thus about fifteen per cent, in favor 
of the southern or more glutinous flour. If the same 



2G8 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

proportion were found to hold generally, six barrels of 
southern flour would be about equal to seven of northern. 

973. Flour in its natural state contains from twelve to 
sixteen per cent, of water, but it will take up about half 
its own weight of water in addition, so that a hundred 
pounds of good flour make about a hundred and fifty 
pounds of bread. 

974. It is an important fact, that the bran which is 
generally so carefully sifted out of the flour, is rather 
more nutritious than the fine flour itself. The oily parts 
of the grain lie mostly near the surface. The less finely 
bolted flour is undoubtedly more nutritious and whole- 
some than the finest and whitest samples. 

975. Rye flour, though it does not differ materially 
from wheat flour in composition, is yet unlike it in some 
respects. Its color is not white, but a grayish brown ; the 
bread made of it is not so porous as that made of wheat flour, 
nor the dough so tough. Its starch cannot be washed out 
like that of wheat flour. Rye bread may be kept fresh and 
moist much longer than wheat, perhaps on account of 
tlie peculiarity of its gluten. 

976. The preference of wheat to rye arises from taste 
or prejudice merely. They have nearly the same nutritive 
value. Barley also contains about the same proportion 
of nutritive matter. Rye flour when mixed with an equal 
quantity of Indian meal, will make a very palatable and 
liealthy bread. 

977. The general principles of bread making apply 
alike to all kinds of flour or meal, but Indian meal, though 
in composition and nutritive properties not differing much 
from wheat flour, does not make equally spongy bread. 

978. Tlic most common modes of cooking the meats 
we set upon the table, are simple boiling, roasting and 



COOKING OP MEATS. 269 

baking. Out of every four pounds, beef loses one in 
boiling, one pound and three ounces in roasting, and one 
pound and five ounces in baking. Tiie same weight of 
mutton loses in boiling fourteen ounces, in roasting one 
pound and four ounces, and in baking one pound and six 
ounces. 

979. Fresh lean beef contains about seventy-eight per 
cent, of water, including the blood. Wheat flour bread, 
as we have seen, contains only forty-five per cent, of 
water. But the gluten of wheat has its corresponding 
element in beef in the fibrin, as it is called, and beef 
contains nineteen per cent, of this, while wheat flour 
bread has only six per cent, of gluten. Again, beef 
contains more or less fat, generally over three per cent, 
in lean beef, while we found iDut about one per cent, of it 
in the flour. The chief difference is, then, in the starch, 
which is not found in beef, while m bread it forms more 
than forty-eight per cent., or about one-half of the whole. 

980. What is the fibrin of the meat ? A thin piece of 
lean beef may be washed in clean water until its color is 
entirely lost, the blood being washed out, and only a white 
mass of fibres being left, which constitutes the muscle of 
the living animal. This is called fibrin. It takes its name 
from its fibrous nature. It contains in mixture part of 
the fat of the animal, and with it constitutes the main 
substance of the meat. Meat is therefore composed of 
water colored by the blood, fibrin and fat. In highly fed 
animals, we find the fat often collected by itself in various 
parts of the body, as in the suet in and around the bones, 
or it is deposited in large masses under the skin, instead 
of being evenly distributed through the fibrous mass of 
muscular tissue, so as to produce, in the case of beef, 
what is called well marbled beef. 



270 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

981. The loss in cooking meat is mainly in the evapora- 
tion of water, and in the fat which melts out in roasting 
and baking. But this water mixed as it is with the bloody 
and holding more or less of various saline substances in 
solution, constitutes what is called the juice of the meat, 
and if this were all extracted the meat would become a 
mere tasteless mass. 

982. It is very important, therefore, in cooking meats, 
to preserve their rich juices as much as possible. This is 
done in boiling and some other modes of cooking, by 
subjecting them to great heat when first put over the fire. 
By this means the fibres near the surface are contracted, 
the escape of the juice is prevented, and the piece is to a 
great extent, cooked in its own moisture. 

983. Hence, if meats are to be boiled, they are usually 
put at once into boiling water ; if to be roasted, they are 
exposed to a quick fire at once, either of which retains 
the liquid contents within, in the manner explained. If 
exposed to a slow fire or to cold, or only warm water, very 
much of the richness of meat, as well as of its nutritive 
quality, is lost, and the piece will become hard and dry. 

984. But in the preparation of soups, broths, beef tea, 
&c., the object is to extract the juices ; hence they are 
put into cold water and either simmered over a slow fire, 
or gradually but quickly brought to a boil. For these 
purposes soft water is best, because it has a gi^eater 
solvent power than hard, which holds in solution more 
or less mineral matters, especially lime. In ordinary 
boiling, however, where we only wish to cook the meat, 
and not extract the juices in which its flavor and richness 
consist, hard water is better. 

985. The use and manufacture of soap also form an 
important part of domestic economy. When oily or fatty 



CLEANSING PROPERTIES OF SOAP. 271 

substances come in contact with an alkali, in solution at 
an elevated temperature, they undergo an entire change, 
and on this change the whole process of soap making 
depends. 

986. The soap made in the farm-house is that known 
as soft soap, and is formed by the union of potash with 
more or less fatty matter. Hard soaps are made by the 
use of soda, with which potash is sometimes mixed. 
Potash will not harden when water is present, as it 
always is in considerable quantities in soft soap. But 
soap made with soda will absorb more than its own weight 
of water without losing its consistency. 

987. The soft soaps are generally made of soft fats, 
while the hard soaps are more frequently made from 
tallow. In making castile soap, olive oil and soda are 
used, and its peculiar marbled appearance is produced by 
the mixture of iron rust. Rosin is very often added in 
the manufacture of common or yellow soaps. 

988. Rosin soaps dissolve or form lather so readily, 
that they are generally believed to be very effective, but 
they are by no means so economical as the soda soaps, 
their cleansing properties being inferior. 

989. The cleansing properties of soap depend mainly 
on its alkaline ingredients. When brought in contact 
with the impurities of clothing, or of the skin, which are 
made up of a greater or less quantity of oily matter 
derived from the exhalations of the body, together with 
dust and other foreign substances, the alkali of the soap 
readily seizes hold of the oily matters and dissolves or 
removes them. 

990. If water is used without soap, it often fails to 
cleanse thoroughly, as it has no affinity for oily 
substances, and therefore leaves them and whatever has 

24 



272 ECONOMY OF THE HOUSEHOLD. 

adhered to them, in the cloth or on the skin. An alkali 
might be used alone, but it would be so powerful as to 
injure or destroy whatever it came in contact with. 
Washing fluids are simple solutions of caustic alkali. 

991. In the life of the farmer, as in that of every other 
man, it is of the utmost importance to make home 
attractive to all the family. It is unnecessary to say that 
the strictest neatness and good order in all domestic 
arrangements, is more conducive than any thing else to 
this end. AVitliout them no dwelling can have an air of 
cheerfulness and comfort. 

992. The cultivation of flowers in the house and 
the garden, is well calculated to aid the skilful house- 
keeper in adorning and beautifying home, while it affords 
a pleasant occupation for leisure hours. Who does not 
feel the influence of flowers blooming in the window, and 
in the neat beds of the garden or the front yard. 
Graceful vines trailing over the door-way, give a charm 
to the poorest dwelling, and make the humblest cottage 
attractive. 

993. The judicious, thrifty and economical manage- 
ment of even the smallest household, is worthy of the 
highest praise that man can bestow, and duties well 
performed, whatever they may be, give the greatest of 
all consolations, an approving conscience and a cheerful 
heart! 



QUESTIONS 



[Note to the Teacher. — The questions here given are not intended 
for skilful and experienced teachers. They are helps, to make up for the want 
of skill and experience. They are to be used cautiously. They do not contain 
all the points in regard to which the pupil should make thoughtful inquiry and 
be ready to give answers; and there is always danger that, by the use of them, 
important things will be omitted, and mere verbal answers be given, instead of 
intelligent answers. Often, a single question will lead a faithful pupil to give, 
in his own language, the substance of a paragraph. In such a case, the partic- 
ular questions may be addressed to other pupils. 

For the sake of conciseness, the beginning of the questions, such as. What is ? 
or What are?, What does? or What do?, How does? or How do?, and How 
is ? or How are ? — are often omitted, as unnecessary.] 

Chapter I.— 1. Agriculture? It include?— 2. Object?— 3. With this 
object, what must the husbandman have? Capital? — 4. What should 
a complete farm have ? What would be desirable? — 5. Why capital? — 
6. Indispensably necessary to carry on a farm well? What will the 
farmer find by study? By practice? — 7. Science? Why should a 
farmer have it ? Whence comes science ? \_Note. — This is not all that 
is necessary to success. The effects of the vital action of plants, spoken 
of hereafter, are also to be known and considered]. — 8. Use of scien- 
tific knowledge ? — 9. Practice ? Knowledge of scientific principles ? — 
10. Why should a farmer have a good education ? — 11. Whatevidence? — 
12. What are the means by which the best modern improvements may 
be introduced upon American farms? — 13. What evidence, nearer 
home, of the value of knowledge? — 14. Advantages of a farmer's occu- 
pation ? — 15. Why do men of science make mistakes ? What alone 
makes a perfect farmer? — 16. Are the necessary scientific principles 
difficult to be understood? — 17. What will be the effect of learning 
these principles well? Give an illustration. — 18. Chemistry? A 
chemist? What are the objects of Chapter I. ? How many objects ? 
What does it show to be very important for a farmer ? What are the 
two sources of the knowledge he needs ? What does it show to be a 
noble pursuit ? State what you tliink most worthy to be thought of 
and remembered. 



274 QUESTIONS. 

[It is an excellent practice to call for a complete analysis of a chap- 
ter, when the pupil is capable of giving it ; or to call upon one to give 
tlie several heads, and others to give an account of what is included 
under these heads. It is well, whenever it is possible, to get up a 
conversation upon the subject of the lesson. It takes time, but it cul- 
tivates the power of expression, and the valuable art of conversation ; 
it excites an interest in the subject, and it gives the teacher opportuni- 
ties to correct faults in the language of his pupils. The time it takes 
is not lost, but saved to the best purposes.] 

Chapter II. — 19. The air? The wind? Give an example of what 
is meant by elastic. Combustion ? What is it necessary to ? — 20. Air 
composed of? What else? What does oxygen mean? Nitrogen? 
Azote? Ammonia? [Art. 32, &c. See Index.] Sulphuretted hydro- 
gen? [Art. 40. See Index.] — 21. Oxygen? An element? How 
abundant is oxygen? — 22. Whence does oxygen come? Its tendency? 
Its attraction ? Meant by iron's rusting ? Oxide of iron ? What has 
happened to the iron ? Where is oxide of iron found ? Oxides ? — 23. 
Why is oxygen called producer of acids ? Acid ? — 24. Sulphurous acid ? 
Sulphuric acid ? — 25. Water composed of? — 26. Hydrogen? How heavy 
is it? Meant by elastic? — 27. How heavy is oxygen? — 28. Common 
air? — 29. Nitrogen? Is it poisonous ? What properties has it ? — 30. 
Is nitrogen always inert? — 31. Protoxide of nitrogen? Deutoxide? 
Tritoxide? Peroxide? Nitric acid? Wonderful about this? How 
does this happen ? The law of definite proportions ? A law of nature ? 
Can it be accidental ? How general is this law ? The combining num- 
ber for hydrogen? Carbon? Oxygen? Nitrogen? Sulphur? Iron? 
Nine pounds of water made of? How many pounds of iron combine 
with eight pounds of oxygen? Give an example. Meant by decomposed? 
What lias been decomposed? How much iron has been turned into 
rust ? Atoms ? How do atoms combine ? How are the elementary 
substances represented? What is HO? NH=^? CO^? NO? 
N02? NO^? NO-i? NO^?— 32. Properties of nitric acid? 
Where is it sometimes formed? — 33. Carbonic acid? — 34. Wood made 
of? Combustion ?— 35. Flame?— 36. Whence do the light and heat 
come? — 37. Ammonia? — 38. Where is it formed?— 39. Where do roots 
get it? — 40. Sulphuretted hydrogen ? — 41. What is ^wre air composed 
of? How much watery vapor does common air contain ? How much 
carbonic acid ? — 42. What happens in breathing ? What, in place of 
oxygen, is breathed out ? Respiration ? Is the quantity of air ren- 
dered unfit for respiration known ? How much pure air does a man 
need ? How many cubic feet does a room, ten feet in each dimension, 



QUESTIONS. 275 

contain ? How soon will the air in a close room of that size be ren- 
dered unfit to breathe ? — 43. What is meant by ventilated ? How 
important is ventilation ? — 44. Do plants breathe ? Is air necessary to 
them ? — 45. By daylight what do growing plants do ? What is done 
with it ? How do plants purify the atmosphere ? What relation do we 
see in this ? State it distinctly. — 46. What action do plants have in 
the night ? When is wood formed ? — 47. An oxide ? [See 22.] Bases ? 
What do they do ? Why are the compounds of acids and bases called 
salts ? — 48. What does carbonic acid and lime form ? Sulphuric acid 
and lime ? Nitric acid and potash ? — 49. Oxygen combining with ? 
Decay of fallen leaves ? What are favorable ? How is humus formed ? 
Nearly all decay ? What are formed during decay ? — 50. Humus ? 
Ulmin ? Ulmic acid ? Humin ? Humic acid ? — 51. Geic acid ? Crenic 
acid ? Apocrenic acid ? — 52. Action of nitrogen ? 

Chapter III. — 53. What is meant by atmosphere ? How high ? — 
54. The atmosphere ? What are acting in it ? — 55. What operations 
are going on in it ? What are rising into it ? What are all striving to 
do ? — 56. What is the sun doing ? Every star ? Oxygen ? Water ? — 
57. By what force does water penetrate ? Capillary attraction ? — 58. 
Osmotic action ? How ? — 59. How does oxygen act ? — 60. Each gas 
do? Give proof. — 61. How does heat act? Conduction? Radiation? 
What effect does heat produce in solids ? In liquids ? In gases ? — 63. 
Attraction of gravitation ? Attraction of cohesion ? Force of adhe- 
sion ? — 64. Force of vegetable life ? Force of animal life ? A third 
force ? A fourth ? — 65. Under what influence is woody fibre formed ? 
What other effects has the sun's light? — 66. What facts prove the 
influence of the sun's light ? — 67. What experiment shows that light 
gives wood its strength ? * — 68. Why is this ? What is the difference 
in the growth by day and by night ? — 69. What power has the sun's 
light upon animals ? — 70. How important is sunshine to human beings ? 
Point out the difference between two cliildren, otherwise like each 
other, one kept much in the sunsliine, the other much in the shade. — 
71. How does the sun act upon the soil ? What precaution is desirable 
when trees are to be planted ? — 72. What other effects are produced by 
the atmosphere ? — 73. What appearance does amber or wax exliibit 
when rubbed? What is the cause? How is glass excited?— 74. 
Explain what the opposite electricities are ?— 75. Meant by discharged ? 

* This is also strikingly shown in the growth of forests. Trees standing near 
an opening in the woods make the greatest growth of foliage and limbs, on the 
side towards the hght. 

24* 



276 QUESTIONS. 

—76. What takes place when vapor is formed ? How is rain supposed 
to be brought on ? 

Chapter IV. — 77. What instruments measure the changes which 
take place in the atmosphere ? — 78. On what principle is the thermom- 
eter constructed ? — 79. By what experiment is this proved ? But what 
other ? — 80. Describe Fahrenheit's thermometer. What is meant by 
graduated? What is the freezing point? Goon. The boiling point ? 
Degrees? How far need a thermometer be graduated? — 81. On what 
principle is a barometer constructed ? How can it be weighed ? How 
heavy is air ? Water ?— 82. The effects of the weight of the air ? The 
purpose of a barometer ? — 83 How is a barometer constructed ? — 84. 
Why does the mercury rise in the barometer ? How are changes in the 
weather foreshown ? — 85. What is the pressure of the air on a square 
inch ? — 86. How is fair weather foreshown ? How foul weather ? How 
a violent wind ? — 87. A Lowell barometer? Describe it. A vernier? — 
88. How far may change of weather be predicted ? What has been 
done to discover the laws of storms ? — 89. Signs of rain ? — 90. The 
principle of the hygrometer? — 91. How is a hygrometer made? — 92. 
A still more delicate one ? — 93. The use of these three instruments ? — 
94. What do variations in the temperature of the air depend on ? — 95. 
What changes take place in the column of air above us ? — 96. What do 
variations in the moisture depend on ? Which winds are moist winds ? 
Which dry and cold ? On what else does the moisture depend ? How 
does heat act? — 97. Other atmospheric phenomena ? — 98. On what does 
the formation of dew depend ? Eadiation of heat ? What kind of sur- 
face radiates most abundantly ? Why ? What happens when the sun 
sets ? What becomes of the heat ? How is dew formed ? Why is it 
not formed in a cloudy night ? — 99. How is hoar-frost formed ? — 100. 
Climate of a country? — 101. New England climate? — 102. Influence 
of climate? Acclimatize? — 103. Causes of diversity of climate? Gen- 
eral ? Second ? Third ? Another ? — 104. Some of the local causes ? 
After a rain in summer, if the clouds disperse at night, why is it com- 
monly cool ? If it continues cloudy at night, why does the heat com- 
monly continue ? 

Chapter V. — 105. Water? How abundant is it? How important 
to plants ? — 106. A still more powerful solvent ? — 107. Three forms of 
water ? On what do they depend ? First form ? Describe the change 
which takes place from the action of heat? The freezing point? 
Latent heat ? Second form ? Describe the- effect of heat upon it. 
What is meant by evaporate? How much heat is required to boil 



QUESTIONS. 27 T 

water away? Third form? Latent heat of vapor? — 108. Boiling? 
What fact is it important for a cook to know? — 109. When is vapor 
formed? What does it, when expanding, ahvays use up? — 110. Wliat 
happens when vapor turns to water? When gases are condensed? 
When water freezes ? How can you guard vegetables from freezing ? — 

111. Vapor in the air depend on ? What happens when the air cools ? — 

112. Clouds? Fogs? Mist? — 113. The quantity of moisture in the 
air depend on ? When the wind blows from the sea upon the land, in 
what case does it not rain ? In what case does it rain ? How is rain 
formed ? In what other way ? — 114. Cause of rain in a thunder storm ? 
— 115. How is snow formed? Uses of snow? — 116. How is hail 
formed? Hail? — 117. How are springs formed ? — 118. Rivulets, brooks, 
rivers ? — 119. How is water important ? — 120. How, as a solvent ? How 
much ammonia can it dissolve? How much carbonic acid? What 
else does it bring down? — 121. Eifect of evaporation ? Of condensa- 
tion ? — 122. Why do plants need much water ? What becomes of it ? 
Describe the experiment wliich proves exhalation from the leaves. 
What should be an object of the farmer ? — 123. Irrigation ? Of what 
use is it ? — to cover the hills with trees ? — 12-1. What will guard against 
the effects of drought ? What makes soil retentive of moisture ? — 125. 
Why should the rain be allowed to penetrate the soil ? What harm 
does it do if allowed to run off*? Why should the soil be kept mellow ? 
How should a hill-side be ploughed ? — 126. What are the remedies for 
excessive wet? — 127. Drainage? How is it eff'ected? — 128. Explain 
the eff*ects of drainage.— 129. What others ? The first ? The second ? 
The third? — 130. Enumerate several important effects of thorough 
drainage. — 131. How is deep drainage a resource against drought? — 
132. The best preventive ? 

Chapter VI. — 133. How do plants resemble animals ? How differ 
from them? — 134. The simplest plant? These nourished? New plants 
formed ? The most perfect plants increase ? — 135. How numerous are 
the simplest plants ? — 136. Plants next in simplicity of structure ? 
Others? Still others? Lichens? (pronounced lyekens). 137. Most 
plants formed ? — 138. Organs? — 139. The principal organs ? — 140. The 
root? It usually divide? Amount of food depend on? — 141. The 
stem? The collar?— 142. The bark?— 143. The leaves? Opposite 
actions through their surface ? The sap become ? — 144. The flower ? 
— 145. How do you learn the several parts of a flower ? The calyx ? 
Sepals?— 146. The petals? The corolla ?— 147. The stamens? The 
anther? Pollen ?— 148. Pistils? Style? Stigma? Receptacle? The 
style of a rose ?— 149. Use of pollen ? Ovary ? Ovules ? Meant by 



278 QUESTIONS. 

fertilize? Embryo?— 150. What commonly happens when the seeds 
are fertilized? Ovary become? Meant by germinate? — 151. The 
fruit? Organs? Instances? Organic substances ? Inorganic? — 152. 
What happens when the seed is put into the ground ? — 153. Cotyledons ? 
What are they unlike ? — 154. Dicotyledonous plants ? — 155. The 
Plumule ? How does it grow ? — 156. Monocotyledonous plants ? 
Describe the growth of one. — 157. The organs of the stem of a tree ? 
External? The trunk? Branches? Limbs? Branchlet? Spray? 
Twigs ? — 158. A shoot grow ? Terminal bud ? Axillary bud ? The 
axil? — 159. The internal organs ? — IGO. The usual course of plants? 
Annual? Biennial? Perennial?— 161. Why should grain be ever 
cut before the seed is quite ripe ? — 162. The necessity of classification? 
— 163. The artificial system? — 164. How are plants now divided? A 
natural family? Give an example. — 165. A genus (plural, genera) ? 
A species ? Give an example showing the meaning of class, family, 
genus and species. — 166. How does the practical use of classification 
appear ? It will bo well for the teacher to consider whether the names 
of the families ought to be learnt. If so, let them be learnt thoroughly. 
— 167. Some of the plants which belong to the Pulse Family ? Use ? 
— 168. Cress Family, character, &c., of all the rest ?— 169. Flax Fam- 
ily ?_170. Rose? What kind of flowers? Fruits ?— 171. Gourd?— 
172. .Currant? — 173. Parsley? Sunflower? SageorMint? Convolvu- 
lus? Nightshade? Character? Give an instance. Olive? Heath? 
Goose-foot? Buckwheat? Walnut? Birch? Willow? Pine? 
Class of those that have been mentioned ? Of those to be mentioned ? 
Lily Family? Amaryllis? Iris? Orchis? Rush? Sedge?— 192. Cereal 
grains? Character of the Grass Family? — 193. Mosses? — 194. Li- 
chens ? — 195. Difference between a tree, a shrub and an undershrub ? 
Undershrubs? Preparation for planting of perennial plants? — 197. 
Alimentary plants? Forage ?— 198. Origin of cultivated plants ? Of 
Indian corn ? — 199. How have they been improved ? Give examples. 
The most striking ? — 200. Whence come the good qualities of most 
cultivated plants ? Of animals subject to man ? What is likely to 
happen to children left to themselves ? 

Chapter VII. — 201. Essential to the formation, of plant-cells? 
What come from carbonic acid? — from ammonia? The history of 
CO^and NH^? Whence may O and H come? N and O ?— 202. 
What power must the simplest plant have ?— 203. The osmotic power ? 
Experiment shows its action ? Endosmose ? Exosmose ? Effects are 
produced by this power in plants ? — in animals ? — 204. Why must water 
be abundantly supplied to growing plants ?— 205. The most indispensa- 



QUESTIONS. 279 

ble article in the food of plants ? What does it do ? Of what are the 
solid parts of plants formed ? — 206. Describe ammonia. What is it ? 
How essential is it to plants ? — 207. Atmospheric food of plants ? The 
four essential elements ? — 208. Is it possible for plants to grow without 
any connection with the earth ? — 209. Is the C in plants pure ? Char- 
ring ? What is done by cliarring ? — 210. Peat ? Anthracite and bitu- 
minous coal? What may be seen in them? — 211. What happens in 
charring? What is consumed? What happens when charcoal is 
burnt in air ? — 212. Combustion ? The combustible or atmospheric 
elements ? The incombustible or mineral elements ? How many are 
found in the ashes of every plant ? The ashes of plants of particular 
families remarkable for ? — 213. The ashes of plants of the Cruciferous 
Family contain ? Cruciferous Family ? — 214. The ashes of plants of 
the Pulse Family ? Sulphate of lime ? Lime ? — 215. What is found in 
the ashes of wheat and other grain ? Phosphate of lime ? Phosphoric 
acid ? Phosphorus ? What tendency has it to combine with O ? What 
use is made of it ? Why is phosphate of lime called bone earth ? — 216. 
In what plants is silica found ? What properties does it give ? Silica ? 
Describe it. Why is it considered an acid ? [See, also, art. 270.] — 
217. Where is potash found ? How is it obtained ? Soft soap formed ? 
Pearlash? — 218. Common potash ? Potassa? Potassium? — 219. Soda? 
Where is it found ? Sodium ? — 220. For what have the ashes of sea- 
plants been valued ? Whence comes the name alcali ? The alcalies ? 
Their properties ? — 221. How are they acted on by acids ? Give an 
example. Why is the salt formed called a neutral salt ? In what state 
do most mineral substances enter plants ? — 222. Some plants growing 
near them contain ? Common salt ? Chlorine ? Very remarkable ? — 
224. What other oxides are found in the ashes of plants ? — 225. Mag- 
nesia ? — 226. The ashes of plants growing in the sea or on the sea- 
shore contain ? — 227. Iodine ? Why is it used in the j)rocesses of the 
daguerreotj-pe ? — 228. In what state does iodine occur ? — 229. Bromine ? 
— 230. What other metals are found in plants ? — 231. The acids most 
important in the structure of plants ? What other acid is essential to 
some plants ? — 233. Are these the only acids found in plants ? Malic 
acid ? Citric acid ? Oxalic acid ? Tartaric acid ? — 234. In what form 
are they found in plants ? Potash plants ? Why are they so called ? — 
235. Silica plants? Why so called? Lime plants? Why?— 236. 
What phosphates are found in all plants ? In what particularly ? What 
is a phosjihate ? — 237. Why are the atmospheric elements so called ? 
Why the earthy ? — 238. What else are found in plants ? Fluorine ? 
Fluoride of calcium ? Mineral food of plants ? 



280 QUESTIONS. 

Chapter VIII. — 239. How large are the particles of the elements 
of plants ? Organic compounds ? — 240. What is meant by organized ? — 
241. The most important organic compounds ? — 242. Cellulose ? Why- 
is it called woody fibre ?— 243. Vegetable Jelly ?— 244. Starch ? Where 
is it found ? How important is it as an article of food ? Whence is it 
obtained for use in the arts ? What use is made of it ? — 245. Gum ? 
Dextrine ? — 246. Sugar ? Sugar candy ? Muscovado sugar ? What 
plants yield it most abundantly ? — 247. Vegetable oil ? From what is 
it extracted ? Linseed oil ? Colza ? — 248. Wax ? Beeswax ? — 249. 
What relation exists between these compounds ? Effect in the animal 
system ? — 250. Nitrogenous Compounds ? Why so called ? What are 
they in their simplest form ? Why called protein ? — 251. Protein form ? 
Effect in the bodies of animals ? — 252. Casein ? — 253. Albumen ? — 254. 
Gluten ? What plants contain it abundantly ? — 255. Importance of 
this fact ? — 256. Whence must every thing in the body of an animal 
have come ? Whence, previously ? — 257. Chlorophyl r — 258. Whence 
the yellow colors ? The rich autumnal colors ? — 259. Whence coloring 
substances ? — 260. Tannin ? Properties ? — 261. What powers seem to 
be acting in plants ? How ? 

Chapter IX. — 262. What is known of the interior of the earth ? 
The crust ? An element ? How many have been found ? — 263. How 
many of them are metals ? Some of the more common metals ? 
Describe such as you know. In what state are most of the metals 
found ? Ores ? — 264. Found pure ? Aerolites ? — 265. Geology ? A 
geologist ? Chemistry ? A chemist ? Chemical analysis ? — 266. The 
soil ? The three most important earths ? — 267. From what has the 
soil been formed ? The principal rocks ? — 268. Granite ? Sienite ? 
Greenstone ? Trap-rock ? Gneiss ? (pronounced nice.') Mica Slate ? 
Porphyry ? The Granitic rocks ? — 269. Their qualities ? Composed 
of? — 270. Silex or Silica ? Why is it called silicic acid? When pure, 
called ? How abundant is it ? Beautiful stones are silica ? How, in 
the processes of nature, is it dissolved? — 271. Its usual form? — 272. 
Silicious Rocks ? Soil is formed of these two kinds of sand ? — 273. 
Slaty or Argillaceous Rocks ? Clay ? What kind of earth does it 
form ? Colors ? Properties ? — 274. Kinds of clay ? Made of clay ? 
Plastic arts ? Kaolin ? Petuntze ? Uses ? — 275. Aluminum ? Alu- 
mina ? The sapphire and the ruby ? The topaz ? The diamond ? — 

276. Calcareous Rocks ? Chalk ? Sort of soil is a calcareous soil ? — 

277. Pudding-stone Rocks ? What holds the materials together ? Soil 
is formed of them ? — 278. What has happened to all these rocks ? 
What six substances does the sand formed from granitic rocks contain ? 



QUESTIONS. 281 

Whence clay? Lime? — 279. Weathering? How does heat act? — 
rain ? — frost ? What else are acting ? What action has water ? — 280. 
The best natural soil ? Most fertile soils ? — 281. Basis of all soils ? A 
clayey sand ? A sandy clay ? Loamy clay ? — 282. What must be 
added to all these to form a good soil ? How does humus act ? Hu- 
mus ? What is land which contains four per cent, of it ? — eight ? — ten ? — 
283. How may it be found whether humus is present in a soil ? — 284. 
When, only, is humus unfavorable to useful vegetation ? How must 
they be corrected r — 285. How does humus act ? What are succes- 
sively produced ? — 286. What action has the carbonic acid ? The oxy- 
gen ? — 287. What other important property ought a soil to have ? 
What will give this property ? — 288. The richest natural soils ? Where 
are such soils found ? Describe the formation of these soils ? In 
what parts are the most fertile of such soils found ? — 289. The soils 
next in value ? Why r — 290. Of what are granite, gneiss, and mica 
slate, composed ? Syenite ? Trap-rock ? Greenstone ? Porphyry ? 
Examine the table and give it on the black-board. — 291. Quartz ? Fel- 
spar ? Mica ? Hornblende ? Augite ? — 292. What is to be done when 
clay can easily be had ? An amendment ? — 293. A more effectual way 
of rendering sandy soil fertile ? Where is this to be found ? How 
does it act ? Describe it. What will be the effect of this process 
repeated? — 294. What substitute can be found for clay and marsh 
mud ? — 295. What do these amendments require ? — 296. How is a 
clayey soil to be improved ? When may this be done ? Effect of the 
sand ? How else ? — 297. How may a calcareous soil be amended ? A 
fourth kind of soil ? They really ? How are they to be managed ? — 
299. What manures are good for such a soil ? — 300. Heavy, cold soils ? 
Why are wet lands cold? — 301. Effect has color? Dr. Franklin's 
experiment ? — 302. Is our soil formed by the crumbling of rocks just 
beneath the surface ? Diluvial soils ? When the forests are cut down 
what kind of soil is usually found ? How fertile ? How has this soil 
been formed ? — 304. Give instances of the effect of weathering. Of 
oxygen ; carbonic acid ; in water. How powerful is its action ? — 306. 
How else does C O ^ act ? How do the alkaline carbonates act ? — 308. 
The remedy for the loss of fertility ?— 309. Is a soil barren for one 
plant also barren for every other ? 

Chapter X.— 310. Subsoil ?— 311. Its influence? What is to be 
done? Why should it be done gradually ?— 312. When should the 
subsoil be niLxed with the soil ? Evils of a subsoil impermeable 
to water? The remedy?— 313. Indications of tliis evil? Kemedy? 
Rule? 



282 QUESTIONS. 

Chapter XI. — 314. Double part does a soil play? Qualities do 
different plants require ? — 315. How are these evils remedied ? Amend- 
ments ? Give examples. — 316. Amendments for argillaceous soils ? — 
317. For silicious soils ? Irrigation ? Its effects ? — 318. Effects of 
planting ? Draining ? — 319. As to the advisableness of an amendment, 
what question is to be settled ? — 320. A permanent amendment ? One 
not necessarily permanent ? 

Chapter XII. — 321. What elements must a soil contain? For 
marine plants, what are necessary ? — 322. In what state are the ele- 
ments found ? A silicate ? Sulphate ? Nitrate ? Phosphate ? Carbo- 
nate ? A sulphate of lime, &c. ? How are these known to be essential 
to plants ? The effect if one were entirely wanting ? Give an example. 
— 324. Why should the elements derived from the atmosphere be arti- 
ficially furnished ?— 326. What was often said by Prof. Nuttall ?— 327. 
Describe the slow process by which wild plants are furnished with 
humus. — 328. How is forest mould formed ? When it is quite wanting 
how is humus to be furnished ? Organic substances ? — 329. How do 
they act? — 330. How do they act on each other? — 331. Fertilizers 
divided ? — 332. What double character have mineral fertilizers ? — 333. 
The principal m. f. ? — 334. Quicklime ? Its effects ? What state 
should it be in ? Power has water containing C O ^ ? Act upon plants ? 
— 335. Describe a Flemish compost. — 336. Valuable properties in 
lime ? — 337. Its effects in small quantities ? — 338. To be done with 
shells ?— 339. Marl ? Its value ?— 340. Plaster ? Why is it valuable ? 
Sulphate of lime ? — 341. Where is sulphur found? Sulphuric acid? 
What salts does it form ? — 342. Hard water ? How made soft water ? — 
343. Write upon the black-board and explain the diagram showing the 
mutual action of sulphate of lime and carbonate of ammonia. — 344. 
Whence comes the carb. of Am. ? — 345. How should plaster be 
applied? — 346. Effects of sulphate? — 347. The Westphalian proverb 
about ashes ? Ashes ? Character of these salts ? — 348. Unleached 
ashes good for ? — 349. Leached ashes ? — 350. Value of coal ashes ? — 
351. Ley ? (This word, in common dictionaries, is spelled lie, — in 
books of chemistry and agriculture, ley and Z^e.) Its effects ? What 
else? — 352. Value of soot? — 353. Of carbonates of potash and of 
soda ?— 354. Of salts of Am. ?— 355. Of nitrates ?— 356. Phosphate of 
lime ? To what is it essential ? Value of phosphates ? — 357. How are 
these valuable? — 358. The uses of common salt? — 359, The object of 
manures ? Of organic manures ? Of humus ? The last result of 
decay of vegetables ? — 360. In what state are organic manures to be 
employed ? Why ? Nature of Am. ? How can it be saved ? — 361. 



QUESTIONS. 283 

Organic manures divided ? The principal vegetable ? — 362. Green 
manures ? What plants are best for the purpose ? — 363. For sandy- 
soils ? — clayey ? — calcareous ? — 364. For what districts ? — 365. Green 
crops for winter grain to be treated ? — 366. How weedy land to be ? — 
367. Farther advantages of green manures ? — 368. Value of sea ma- 
nures ? Value of eel-grass? Management of sea manures? For 
what crops valuable ? — 369. What best for each vegetable ? Effects of 
straw ? Stubble to be managed ? Good for hay land ? — 370. Said of 
leaves ? Of different kinds ? — 371. Why are animal manures valuable? 
How do they act? — 372. Flesh contain? How to be applied? — 373. 
Best to do with a carcass ? How valuable ? — 374. Sulphuretted hydro- 
gen ? How does it act ? — 375. Rank is to be given to hair, &c. ? Why ? 
— 376. Effect of hair ? State the loss from its being thrown away. — 377. 
Value of blood as manure ? How to be managed ? — 378. Of bones ? 
How prepared and applied? — 379. Action be accelerated? — 380. 
Whence the value of animal manures ? — 381. Best of manures ? Why ? 
Value of milk ? Different kinds ? — 382. Why is particular care to be 
taken of manure ? To be saved? The dangers of loss ? — 383. Loss 
be prevented ? — 384. Decomposition ? Cause ? Vital principle act ? — 
385. Brings on vinous fermentation ? Its products ? How is vinegar 
made ? — 386. Final products of decay ? Essential to it ? Prevents it ? 
—387. The stable to be kept sweet ? Cost ?— 388. Different value of 
different manures ? Should all be thrown together ? — 390. Liquid 
manure formed? For what fields to be used? — 391. Best of all? — 
392. Says chemical analysis ? How lost ? Consequences ? — 393-394. 
Prevent disagreeable effects ? — 395. Guano ? Where found ? Consist 
of? — 396. Experiment. Another. — 397. Another. Common fear? 
Well founded ? — 398. Where may plants get their mineral elements ? 
Evidence ?— 399. Those eight ? Still more essential ?— 400-401. How 
valuable is muck ? Substitutes ? From ponds and pools ? How save 
the scourings of hills ? — 402. Good compost for trees ? Clayey soil ? 
Common crop ? Another ? How is health affected by the management 
of manure ? Effect of these gases on health? Give instances. Of 
carbonic acid ? — 404. In small quantities ? Effects in the school room ? 
Of ammonia ? — 405. Where are they generated ? How show them- 
selves ? Who are particularly subject to fever and other disease ? — 
406. How may the well be affected ? Consequence ? Preventive ? 

Chapter XIII. — 407. When is draining indispensable ? The other 

essential operations ? Plougliing? — 408. Objects of plougliing ? How 

can most of these be done most effectually ? — 410. Advantages of deep 

ploughing? Effects of deep ploughing upon the roots ? — 411. Saving 

25 



284 QUESTIONS. 

does it produce ? How ? How must the change be made ? On what 
will the number of rootlets depend ? When is burning useful ? What 
ashes contain most potash ? The rule ? — 412. Use of thorough tillage ? 
What seems to show tliis ? The reason ? — 413. Value of tillage ? The 
most important use ? When may there be danger of overdoing ? — 414. 
Subsoiling ? Eflfects ? What .may draw up the moisture in loosened 
earth ? 

Chapter XIV. — 415. What is requisite for plant growth ? What is 
understood by the mechanical condition of the soil ? — 416. Are soils 
naturally fitted for cultivation ? — 417. What condition of the soil is 
necessary ? — 418. What do most soils require ? Why do they require 
this ? What harm does standing water do ? — 419. Do all soils require 
the same preparation ? What are the processes most necessary ? — 420. 
Where is clearing generally required ? — 421. To what process is 
the term clearing applied ? When is it begun ? How is it where the 
wood is valuable ? How may cleared land be got into pasturage ? To 
what should steep and inaccessible places be devoted ? — 422. What is 
next to be done ? How may stumps and stones be removed ? — 423. 
How may the surface overrun with bushes be cleared ? — 424. How may 
wet lands be improved ? The object of drainage? — 425. What effect 
has stagnant water ? — 426. How does exclusion of the air affect soils ? 
— 427. How is drainage effected? Objection to open drains? Are 
they as useful as covered ones ? — 428. How are the objections to open 
drains avoided ? How are underdrains made ? The advantage of 
tiles ? — 429. How must a stone drain be laid ? Is it ever good econo- 
my? — 430. How is it with a tile drain? — 431. Economy of the tile 
drain ? — 432. What is the pipe tile ? — 433. What fall is necessary ? 
—434. What is the sole tile? The objection to it?— 435. What is a 
brush drain ? How is it laid ? Is it efficient ? — 436. What distance 
apart may drains be laid ? How do stiff and porous soils affect the 
distance of the drains ? — 437. What depth is required ? — 438. What is 
the effect of thorough draining ? How does the air affect the soil ? — 
439. With what is the atmosphere charged? — 440. What effect has 
draining on the temperature of the soil? — 441. What is the result of 
Increasing the temperature ? — 442. How does draining affect the texture 
of the soil ? — 443. How is land got ready for planting ? — 444. What 
implements are used ? — 445. What is the spade ? — 446. The implement 
in most common use ? — 447. How does the plough operate on the soil ? 
— 448. How should the furrow be turned ? — 449. What about the depth ? 
— 450. What is the effect of bringing up the subsoil ? — 451. Advantage 
of deep ploughing V — 452. Where is it especially necessary ? — 453. 



QUESTIONS. 285 

What is the design of the subsoil plough ? — 454. Benefits of subsoil 
ploughing ? What do recent investigations show ? — 455. What is the 
Michigan plough ? — 45G. What is the digger ? — 457. How is the harrow 
used r — 458. How does the cultivator compare with the harrow ? — 459. 
How is the roller used ? — 460. How is it useful in laying down land ? — 
461. What caution is needed ? Effect of rolling stiff soils ? 

Chapter XV. — 462. What conditions are requisite to germination ? 
How does light affect germination ? — 463. What is the first process ? — 
464. How does the plant grow ? — 465. How does it draw food from the 
air ? What office do the leaves fulfil ? How numerous are the breath- 
ing pores of the leaves ? — 466. What do plants usually spring from ? 
What is a tuber ? What is a bulb ?— 467. What is a seed bed ?— 468. 
What do aU plants require for their complete development ? What 
points is it necessary to attend ? — 469. Can an imperfect seed grow ? — 
470. What is the advantage of perfect seed? — 471. How may good 
seed be known ? — 472. How may the germinating power of seed be 
ascertained ? — 473. What advantage is there in learning the quality of 
the seed ? — 474. How does the vitality of seeds differ ? — 475. How can 
the appearance of plants on new soil be explained ? — 476. How is it 
with seeds of the turnip and the grasses ? — 477. What change takes 
place in seeds ? How can deterioration be prevented ? — 478. Why is 
change of seed necessary ? — 479. When may a change be avoided ? 
What care is requisite to preserve the purity of seeds ? — 480. What 
common examples can be given of seeds producing fruits different 
from those which produced them ? — 481. How may varieties be 
obtained ? — 482. How may varieties of Indian corn be produced ? — 483. 
Is a modification of the original fixed at once ? — 484. How is it in cul- 
tivating potatoes ? — 485. How may new varieties of the potato be pro- 
duced ? — 486. Is any new variety obtained from layers, or in grafting 
or budding ? — 487. How may we judge of the quantity of seed required ? 
— 488. How is the seed required influenced by the soil ? — 489. What 
other conditions affect the quantity of seed required ? — 490. How does 
the mode of sowing affect it ? — 491. How is it with thin and thick sown 
crops ? — 492. When may steeping seeds be practiced ? — 493. What is 
best adapted to nourish the germ of plants ? — 494. What circumstances 
affect the time of planting ? — 495. How does the condition of the soil 
affect the time of sowing ? — 496. Is there any general rule applicable 
to all crops ? — 497. To what depth should seeds be covered ? — 498. 
The depth of clay and sandy soils ? — 499. How does the size of seeds 
affect the depth of covering ? — 500. What are some of the modes of 
sowing? What of broad cast and drill sowing? — 501. Advantages of 



286 QUESTIONS. 

drill sowing? — 502. How are seeds covered? — 503. How is Indian 
corn planted ? — 504. How is the manure applied ? — 505. What is 
transplanting ? — 506. What advantages has this mode of culture ? — 507. 
What is needed to transplant successfully ? — 508. At what stage of 
growth is transplanting to be performed ? — 509. What care is required 
in transplanting older trees ? — 510. How may injury to the roots be 
remedied? — 511. How does the removal of part of the top affect the 
tree ? — 512. How may trees and shrubs be grown ? 

Chapter XVI. — 513. How are cultivated plants divided ? — 514. 
What do the cereals include ? Is buckwheat a cereal plant ? — 515. 
What is one of the most important of cereals ? — 516. What soils does 
Indian corn require ? — 517. How is the land prepared ? — 518. How is it 
with stiff soils ? — 519. What manures should be used for this crop ? — 
520. How are they to be applied? — 521. Manure having been applied 
in the fall, what course is adopted in spring ? — 522. What is the objec- 
tion to putting all the manure in the hill ? — 523. Another objection ? — 
524. How may concentratecl manures be used to advantage ? — 525. How 
may the land be put into good condition ? Why is it poor economy to 
raise poor crops ? — 526. Wliat is of special importance ? — 527. What is 
the next step? — 528. Distance of the hills for corn? Advantage of 
using the corn-planter ? — 52D; Why should the plants stand closely ? — 
530. When may soaking the seed be resorted to ? What is the best 
substance to soak seed corn in? — 531. Is drill planting recommended? 
— 532. How deep is it covered ? — 533. When is the crop first hoed ? 
What implement is used between the rows, and how? — 534. What 
implement is used in subsequent hoeings, and why ? — 535. How many 
hoeings are necessary for corn ? — 536, How is the seed to be selected ? 
— 537. When are the top stalks cut? Effect of cutting too early? — 
538. What is the better practice ? — 530. The cheapest way of stooking ? 
— 540. What are the varieties of wheat? — 541. How does winter differ 
from spring wheat ? — 542. What soil is adapted to wheat ? — 543. What 
is requisite in the soil ? — 544. What preparation of land is needed ? — 
545. How is it sown ? — 546. What are the advantages of drill sowing ? 
— 547. Are there any other advantages ? — 548. What quantity of seed 
is sown per acre ? — 549. Where does wheat come in the rotation ? — 
550. What is important? — 551. When is it harvested? — 552. What 
takes place if harvesting is neglected ? — 553. Effect of exposure to 
rain ? — 554. What is said of rye ? — 555. Soils adapted to rye ? — 556. 
The varieties ? How does its range of culture compare with wheat ? — 
557. Quantity of seed per acre ? — 558. Its use on sheep farms ? — 559. 
What of its straw? — 560. What disease attacks rye? — 561. Peculiarity 



QUESTIONS. 287 

of barley ? What soils does it require ? — 562. When is it to be sown ? 
— 563. When is it harvested ? — 564. What climate is best adapted to 
oats ? — 565. How does the yield differ in different circumstances ? — 566. 
How may they be sown ? Quantity of seed per acre ? — 567. How are 
oats for a green crop ?— 568. Effectof the roller on them?— 569. When 
should they be cut, and how? — 570. How are oats used? — 571. What 
is said of buckwheat?— 572. Where is it cultivated ?— 573. What soils 
does it do best on ? How is it often used ?— 574. How is the land pre- 
pared for it ? When is it sown ? Quantity of seed per acre ?— 575. 
How is it cut and gathered? — 576. How is millet used? — 577. Soils 
best adapted to millet ? — 578. When is millet sown ? 

Chapter XVII. — 579. What does the class of leguminous plants 
include ? Why so called ? — 580. The most important of the legumi- 
nous plants ? What are the varieties of the bean ? — 581. Soils best 
adapted to beans ? — 582. How is the land prepared ? How thick should 
they be planted ? — 583. When are they to be planted ? — 584. When 
hoed and how ? — 585. How does the season affect the crop ? — 586. 
When is the crop to be harvested and how ? — 587. What yield may be 
expected ? — 588. The varieties of the pea ? — 589. The soil best adapted 
to pease ? — 590. What manures are used for them ? — 591. What cultiva- 
tion is required ? How are they sown ? — 592. How are they harvested? 
For what purpose is the pea often sown ? — 593. By what is it attacked ? — 
594. What remedy is there ? — 595. What is the objection to late plant- 
ing ? — 596. What is said of the lentil ? — 597. What soils does the lentil 



Chapter XVIII. — 599. How may the potato be raised ? — 600. When 
should seed potatoes be gathered? — 601. The varieties of this plant? 
602. What is a prominent constituent of the potato ? — 603. When is 
starch the most abundant ? — 604. What soils are best for potatoes ? — 
605. What cultivation is required ?— 606. What manures ?— 607. What 
of the practice of cutting ? — 608. What after-culture is necessary ? — 
609. When is the crop harvested and how ? — 610. What is the climate 
for the turnip? How do droughts affect it? — 611. Advantages of its 
culture ? — 612. How should crops alternate ? Effect of the root crop 
on the soil ? — 613. Varieties of the turnip ? — 614. Soils best adapted 
to it ? — 615. What preparation of land is necessary ? — 616. Effect of 
poor soils on the quality of the turnip ? Manures best adapted to the 
turnip ? — 617. Effect of nitrogenous manures on the turnip ? — 618. 
How is the turnip sown? Objection to ridge culture ? — 619. Quantity 
of seed per acre ?— 620. What is the after-culture ?— 621. When are 
25* 



288 QUESTIONS. 

turnips harvested and how ? — 622. How are they used? "What quantity- 
may be given to an animal ? — 623. What is the kohl-rabi and how is it 
cultivated ? — 624. Soils adapted to the cabbage ? — 625. Varieties of the 
\)QQt ? — 626. What of the mangold ? — 627. How is land prepared for 
beets ? How is the seed sown ? — 628. What does the after-culture con- 
sist in ? — 629. When is it harvested ? What care is required ? — 630. 
What is said of the carrot ? — 631. How is the carrot used ? — 632. How 
is the carrot cultivated ? — 633. What are the varieties of it and the 
qualities of each ? — 634. The climate best suited to it ? Etfect of 
droughts upon it ? — 635. Soils best adapted to it ? — 636. What cultiva- 
tion is of importance ? — 637. Effect of stimulating manures on it ? — 
638. What of the seed ? — 639. Quantity of seed per acre ? Depth of 
covering? — 640. Preparation of land? Time of sowing? — 641. When 
is it to be hoed ? Number of hoeings required ? — 642. What about 
thinning out ? — 643. When is the carrot harvested ? — 544. What is said 
of the parsnip ? — 645. How does it compare with the carrot ? — 646. 
Varieties of the parsnip ? — 647. Climate best suited to it ? — 648. Soils ? 
— 649. Preparation of the land?— 650. Its yield compared with the 
carrot? — 651. What of the artichoke? Advantages of its culture? 
— 652. Cultivation ? — 653. How is it harvested and used ? 

Chapter XIX. — 654. Origin of the culture of grasses ? — 655. 
Classification of grasses ? What are the natural grasses ? — 656. What 
are artificial grasses ? — 657. Design of laying down lands with the 
natural grasses ? — 658. What is the common practice ? — 659. How do 
the natural grasses grow ? — 660. Where is pasturage the only improve- 
ment practicable ? — 661. What differences are found in the grasses ? — 
662. Advantages of using several species together? — 663. How is a 
selection made ? — 664. What are some of the best grasses for mowing 
lands ? — 665. What species are best adapted for pastures ? — 6G6. What 
point is of importance in the selection for mowings ? — 667. How does 
the time of blossoming affect the mixture for pasture grasses ? — QG8. 
Climate best adapted to bring the grasses to perfection ? How do the 
grasses of a dry climate or dry season compare with those of a moist 
one ? — 669. Best time to sow grass seed ? Objection to spring sowing ? 
— 670. Preparation of the land ? — 671. How is the seed sown? Depth 
of covering ? — 672. Time of sowing on a clayey soil ? — 673. When is 
clover seed sown ? — 674. What are the artificial grasses? — 675. The 
most valuable of the artificial grasses ? Effect of clover roots on the 
soil ? — 676. Soils best adapted to clover ? — 677- What is said of the 
white or Dutch clover ? — 678. How is lucerne affected by the climate 
of this country ? 



QUESTIONS. 289 

Chapter XX. — 679. How are plants used in the arts divided ? — 680. 
What is the only plant cultivated for its oil in this country ? — 681. In 
what climates does flax succeed best ? The soils best suited to it ? — 

682. How does the object of raising flax determine the soil for it ? — 

683. What manures are good for it ? — 684. What preparation of the 
land? — 685. The quantity of seed to be sown ? — 686. Effect of quantity 
of seed on the fibre ? Ivind of fibre most valuable ? — 687. How is the 
seed sown ? What care is needed after the flax is up ? — 688. How is 
the plant gathered ? — 689. If allowed to ripen seed how much may be 
expected per acre? — 690. What is said of hemp? — 691. The soil 
best adapted to hemp ? — 692. How is it sown ? When and how is it 
harvested? — 693. What other plants are used in our manufacturing 
industries ? — 69-1. What are the varieties of osier willows ? — 695. What 
soils are adapted to the willow ? — 696. How is the land prepared ? — 
697. How are the cuttings set ? What attention is needed ? — 698. The 
soil best suited to broomcorn ? How is the seed sown ? — 699. When 
and how is it harvested ? — 700. What are the varieties of the hop ? — 
701. The soil best adapted to it? — 702. What manures maybe used? 
— 703. How is the hop propagated ? — 701. What is said of the poles to 
be used? — 705. When are hops gathered and how? — 706. How is 
tobacco cultivated ? — 707. By what is the plant attacked ? — 708. When 
is it topped ? — 709. When gathered and how ? 

Chapter XXI. — 710. Rotation of crops ? Give an example. Object 
of rotation ? The reason for rotation ? First important principle in 
the rotation of crops ? The second? The third? Fourth? — 711. Is 
the order of rotation important ? — 712. What may be saved by rotation ? 
How must the succession be arranged ? Show, by an example on the 
black-board, how this may be done. — 713. How may the rotation be 
made still longer ? How may time be saved ? How often should the 
ground be moved ? Order of plougliing ? Give reasons for the seven 
years' course ? Substances most needed for the restoration of fertility ? 
Best manures ? — 714. On clover ? Give an example of successful use 
of gypsum? — 715. A fallow*? When may a field lie fallow? Show 
how it should be managed ? — 716. Weathering ? Its uses ? Where 
are these salts ? — 717. Who have allowed thoir fields to be fallow ? 
What has rendered it less necessary ? What substitute ? Why should 
the rotation vary with the soil ? — 718. How is a farmer to know the 
besWourse of rotation ? Should it vary with the object the farmer has 
in view ? — 719. Give, upon the black-board, the 1st course laid down, 
with the reasons. 2d. 3d. 4th. 5th. Give a longer course, and the 
reasons.— 720. Norfolk rotation? Give the favorite French course, 



290 QUESTIONS. 

with the reasons. Give an English course for clayey soils. For rich 
loams. What fact should essentially vary these courses when adopted 
in America ? — 721. What may sometimes be substituted for a rotation 
of crops ? 

Chapter XXII.— 724. What is the first of the harvest? What 
determines the proper time for cutting grass ? — 725. When should it be 
cut for feeding to milch cows ? — 726. When to obtain the greatest 
qucintity and the best quality of milk ? — 727. When to feed to store 
cattle ? — 728. When do grasses attain their full development ? What 
constituents of grass are of the highest value ? — 729. What change 
takes place after flowering ? — 730. Why not let the seed ripen ? — 731. 
How is grass cut ? What is the advantage of the mowing machine ? 
— 732. What further advantage is there ? How is grass treated after 
being cut ? What is the hay tedder ? — 734. How is it gathered ? What 
is the advantage of the horse-rake ? — 735. On what does the time 
required to cure grass depend ? When may it be got in ? — 736. What 
is the effect of over-drying ? — 737. In what does the true art of hay- 
making consist ? — 738. How may injury in the mow be prevented ? — 
739. What is the result of experience in drying hay? — 740. When 
should clover be cut and how cured ? When may it be put in ? — 741. 
How does clover compare with other hay ? For what is it most 
valuable ? — 742. How may it be saved from injury ? — 743. When 
should lucerne be cut and why ? — 744. When is the proper time to cut 
wheat and rye ? When then ? How are they cut ? — 745. How are oats 
and barley cut ? — 746. When should Indian corn be gathered ? What 
is the custom ? — 747. When should potatoes be dug and how ? What 
is the result of exposure to the sun ? — 748. What is the effect of expo- 
sure to the sun on the surface while growing ? — 749. When are turnips 
harvested and how ? — 750. When should carrots be taken out of the 
ground and how ? — 751. What is said of mangolds ? 

Chapter XXIII. — 752. What is disease ? How is it brought about ? 
— 753. What is a predisposing cause of disease ? — 754. What is an 
exciting cause ? — 755. What are some of the diseases often ascribed to 
parasites ? — 756. What is mildew ? — 757. What is the appearance of 
wheat mildew ? What plants does the white mildew attack ? — 758. 
How does white mildew first appear ? How does it extend ?— 759. 
What is the remedy ? — 760. Is wheat mildew the same as that of the 
vine? — 761. What varieties of wheat are most affected with it? — 762. 
What gives it the name of rust ? — 763. On what soils is wheat most 
liable to be attacked ? — 764. What is the remedy ?— 765. When may 



QUESTIONS. 291 

salt be applied ? — 766. What is the disease called smut ? — 767. How- 
does it affect the grain ? — 768. On what soils is smut most common ? — 
769. How may its presence in wheat be known ? — 770. What are the 
remedies ? — 771. How may the seed be prepared ? — 772. What is the 
disease called canker ? — 773. What is tliis disease caused by ? — 774. 
What is its peculiarity ? — 775. How is it propagated ? — 776. What is 
the condition of the diseased grain at the time of ripening ? — 777. How- 
does it appear in threshing ? — 778. How may it be guarded against ? — 
779. How may awash be prepared for the seed? — 780. What is blight? 
—781. What is ergot?— 782. What is it caused by ?— 783. Where does 
it prevail ? — 784. What is the remedy ? — 785. How are trees often 
injured? — 786. When may fruit trees be pruned? — 787. How should 
wounds on trees be treated ? — 788. What are some of the most injurious 
insects ? — 789. What are cut worms ? — 790. How may they be 
destroyed ? — 791. What other insects destroy them ? — 792. What is 
said of ground beetles ? — 793. What of ichneumon flies ? — 794. How 
may the apple-tree caterpillar be guarded against ? When are the eggs 
laid and how do they appear ? — 795. How may trees be protected from 
the canker worm ? — 796. What about the codling moth ? Remedy ? — 
797. What does the curculio attack? How may the bitten fruit be 
known ? What prevention is named ? — 798. What of the apple-tree 
borer ? How does it enter the tree ? — 799. When are the eggs hatched ? 
How is it checked? — 800. What are the remedies? — 801. What does 
the striped beetle attack ? How may its ravages be prevented ? — 802. 
How may squash bugs be destroyed ? — 803. What of the onion maggot ? 
—804. Of the wheat midge ?— 805. The dor bug ?— 806. Of the locust- 
tree borer ? How is it destroyed ? — 807. Of the rose bug ? — 808. How 
may the spring beetle be recognized ? Of what is it the parent ? — 809 
What of the striped potato beetle ? Remedy ? — 810. The oak pruner ? 
How prevented ? — 811. Of the mealworm? — 812. Of scale insects on 
the bark ? Remedy ? — 813. Of the cliinch bug ? How destroyed ? — 
814. The army worm ? Its enemies ? How checked? Their liistory ? 
—815. What of plant lice ? On wheat ? 

Chapter XXIV. — 816. Of what does the stock of the farm consist? 
—817. Objects of keeping horned cattle?— 818. How divided ?— 819. 
How many distinct breeds in this country ? — 820. Their qualities ? — 
821. Of the Ayrshires ? Why kept ? Their milk ?— 822. Of the Jer- 
seys ?— 823. What of the Short-horns ?— 824. Where did they origi- 
nate ?— 325. What of the Devons ?— 826. Of the Herefords ?— 827. 
What of the common stock ? — 828. Why should only good stock be 
kept on the farm ? — 829. On what does success depend ? — 830. Nutri- 



292 QUESTIONS. 

nient animals require ? — 831. Difference in a full grown and a growing 
animal ? — 832. Treatment of young stock ? — 833. Common mistake ? — 
834. Consequence? — 835. Treatment of cows ? — 836. What is of most 
importance ? — 837. What of moist food in winter ? — 838. How fed to 
produce the greatest quantity ? — 839. Eor the best quality ? — 840. How 
to feed for cheese making ? — 841. What of the manner of milking ? — 
842. What is the best form of the animal to fat ? — 843. How should 
fattening animals be treated ? — 844. State an experiment on sheep. — 
845. How may the greatest quantity of manure be made r — 846. 
Difference in ground and unground food ? — 847. How is a fat animal 
prepared for the butcher ? — 848. What is the average loss or offal ? — 
849. Qualities of working cattle ? — 850. Comparison of ox and horse 
labor? — 851. How are horses classified? — 852. Effect of standing in 
dark stables ?^853. How treated ? — 854. What of barns and stables ? — 
855. How is good ventilation secured ? — 856. Of the temperature of 
stables ? — 857. What is said of treatment of animals ? — 858. What of 
the breeds of sheep ? — 859. Most profitable for special localities ? — 
860. Comparative profit of raising mutton ? Of cost of fences ? — 861. 
Of shelter ? — 862. State an experiment in keeping sheep ? — 863. What 
is said of feeding ? — 864. Amount of food consumed ? — 865. How may 
sheep be protected ? — 866. Of the breeds ? On what will the choice 
depend ?— 867. What of the food of swine ?— 868. What of poultry ?— 
869. What of their food in winter ? — 870. What of the varieties of 
fowls ? 

Chapter XXV.— 871. On what will success depend ?— 872. What 
of choice of location ? Advantage of good land ? — 873. What is said 
of the location of buildings ? — 874. Of the construction of fences ? — 
875. Of the economy of implements ? — 876. Of buying too many ? — 
877. Of the more expensive ones ? How may they be owned ? — 878. 
How are farm tools irtjured ? — 879. What is said of the tool room ? — 
880. What mistake is often made? On what does profit depend? — 881. 
What is the result of trying to do too much ? — 882. What is said of 
protecting crops ? — 883. Of the care of growing corn ? — 884. What is 
true of every crop ? — 885. A source of great loss ? — 886. How is the 
farmer to keep up the fertility of his land ? — 887. How are knowledge 
and skill required ? — 888. How is a compost formed ? — 889. The most 
direct way of increasing fertility ? — 890. Economy of green fodder ? 
Of manure ? — 891. Of losses from badly wintering stock? — 892. What 
of waste land along walls ? — 893. Of allowing stones to lie in piles on 
the lot ?— 894. What is said of a garden ? Economy of it ?— 895. Of a 
hot-bed ? — 896. When is it made ? — 897. How is the frame constructed ? 



QUESTIONS. 293 

— 898. How are the sashes put on ? — 899. What exposure is best ? 
When is the bed started ? — 900. Best heating material ? How put in ? 
— 901. How may the heat be protracted ? — 902. Management ? — 903. 
How is the seed sown ? — 904. How may too great heat be avoided ? — 
905. How else ? — 906. How may the temperature be determined ? — 907. 
What caution is required ? — 908. How may cucumbers, &c., be planted ? 
— 909. What plants may be started in the hot-bed ? — 910. What hot- 
beds are most easily regulated ? — 911. What is said of fruit culture ? — 
912. Of young trees ? Of other crops ? — 913. How is a too thrifty 
growth checked ? How is the growth promoted ? What of spading up 
around trees ? — 914. What of pruning ? Best time ? — 915. When 
should apples and pears be gathered ? Etfect of ripening on the fruit ? 
— 910. What is said of the strawberry ? — 917. Of the raspberry and 
blackberry ? — 918. Of the gooseberry ? Value of mulching ?— 919. 
When should grapes be set? When pruned? Object the first year 
or t\vo ? — 920. Effect of ornamental trees ? — 921. When should wheat 
and other grains be harvested ? — 922. Effect of ripening ? — 923. What 
is said of oats ? — 924. Of keeping correct accounts r — 925. What 
accounts should be kept ? Eesult ? 

Chapter XXVI. — 926. What of the importance of good manage- 
ment in the house ? — 927. Of the dairy ? — 928. Of the care of milk ? — 
929. What is milk ? Its composition ? — 930. The proportions of the 
various constituents ? — 931. How does it appear under the mici'oscope ? 
What are the globules ? Their size ?— 932. Weight of milk ? Effect of 
heat and cold ? What change takes place when at rest ? — 933. What is 
the cause of a whitish appearance in cream ? — 934. Why is churning 
necessary ? What sometimes takes place ? — 935. Effect of heat on 
milk ? — 936. What is the percentage of cream ? Which is lighter, rich 
or poor milk ? — 937. Temperature of new milk ? Depth in the pan ? 
Temperature of the dairy-room ? — 938. Why is the strictest cleanliness 
necessary ? — 939. What of the first cream that rises ? How may the 
best cream and butter be obtained ? — 940. Of the dairy house ? — 941. 
How should the room be located in the house ? What of cellars ? — 
942. Of the atmosphere near cellar bottoms ? Where should milk 
stand to facilitate the rising of cream ? — 943. Describe a convenient 
form of milk stand. — 944. How long should milk stand for cream ? 
What of churning ? How may cream be kept ? — 945. What is said of 
butter ? At what temperature of the cream is the best quality of butter 
procured ? How much does the temperature rise in churning ? How 
may the cream be brought to the proper temperature ? — 946. What of 
churning ? — 947. What form of churn is mentioned ? What is it that 



294 QUESTIONS. 

brings the butter ? — 948. What is the best way of working butter ? 
What of the sponge and cloth ? What of butter made in this way ? — 
949. How might a simple butter-worker be made ? — 950. How is butter 
prepared for market? Effect of over-salting? — 951. How may new 
boxes be prepared so as not to taint butter ? — 952. How might both 
nice butter and cheese be made ? — 953. What is cheese made from ? — 
954. From what substances may it be made ? How does the acid act ? 
— 955. What is the process of making cheese ?--956. What is said of 
the rennet ? What of the pressing ? — 957. What of the quality of 
dairy produce ? — 958. What is said of bread making ? — 959. Of the 
flour?— 960. Composition of wheat ?— 961. What is starch ?— 962. 
What of gluten ? How may it be washed from dough ? — 963. What is 
bran ?— 964. Effect of water on flour ? What is dough ?— 965. Effect 
of yeast on dough ? — 966. What makes bread light and spongy ? What 
takes place when dough is put into the oven ? — 967. What is yeast ? — 
968. What changes does it produce ? What checks rising in the oven ? 
— 969. What change takes place in the bread? Is stale bread actually 
drier than new ? Wliich is the more healthful ? — 970. How does the 
gluten retain water ? — 971. How does the value of flour depend on the 
amount of gluten ? — 972. State an experiment with different flour ? — 
973. How much water does flour in its natural state contain ? How 
much bread will a hundred pounds of flour make ? — 974. How does the 
bran compare with flour ? — 975. What of rye flour ? Rye bread ? — 
976. Why is wheat flour preferred to rye ? — 977. Of Indian meal ? — 978. 
The most common modes of cooking meats ? What does beef lose in 
boiling? Mutton? — 979. What per cent, of water in beef? What in 
beef corresponds with the gluten of bread ? In what does the differ- 
ence consist? — 980. What is fibrin? How is fat deposited? — 981. To 
what is the loss in cooking due ? What is the juice of meat ? — 982. 
How is it preserved ? — 983. How would much of the richness of meats 
be lost ? — 984. How does the case differ in preparing broths and beef 
tea ? — 985. On what does the process of soap making depend ? — 986. 
The difference between soft and hard soaps ? — 987. How is castile soap 
made ? — 988. What of rosin or yellow soaps ? — 989. On what do the 
cleansing properties of soap depend ? — 990. Why does water without 
soap often fail to cleanse ? — 991. How is home to be made attractive ? — 
992. What is calculated to secure this end? 



INDEX 



Page. 

Acclimation often difficult, 33 

Accounts, importance of keeping, 254 

Acetous fermentation, 117 

Acids, combinations of, 62, 65, 66 

Adhesion, force of, 19, 20 

Agriculture, definition of, 1 

Air, moisture in the, 37, 140 

Air, weight of the, 6, 26, 27, 28 

Albumen in the body, . 71 

Alkali, properties of, 63, 271, 272 

Alimentary plants, 55, 56 

Alumina, abundance of, 78, 79 

Aluminum, basis of clay, 65, 79 

Amaryllis family, the, 54 

Amendments for special soils, 94, 95 

Ammonia essential to food of plants, . . .11, 12, 39, 59, 63, 103, 107 

Animal heat sustained by combustion, 13 

Animal life, force of, 20 

Animal fibrin essential part of muscle, 71, 269 

Animals, treatment of, 239, 247 

Apples, ripening of, 252 

Apple-tree caterpillar, mode of destroying, 223, 224 

Apple-tree borer, protecting trees from the, 225, 226 

Argillaceous or clay soils, 75, 78, 94 

Army worm, ravages of the, 230, 231 

Arrow-root, starch in, 68 

Artichoke, culture and qualities of the, 187 

Artificial system, . 50 

Ashes of plants, 61, 104, 105, 203 

Atmosphere, elements of the, 37, 39, 87, 96, 97, 141 

Atmosphere, phenomena of the, 31 

Attraction of gravitation, 19 

Ayrshires, origin and characteristics of the, 232, 233 

Barley, soils adapted to, 168, 169 

Barometer, use of the, c . . 24, 26, 28 

26 



296 INDEX. 

Page. 

Bases, oxides of metals, 14 

Beans, culture and varieties of, 179,174 

Bedding for cattle, 119 

Beef, loss of, in cooking, 269, 270 

Beet, culture and varieties of the, 182, 183 

Biennials, 50 

Blackberry, cultivation of the, 252 

Blight in plants, 219, 220 

Blood, vitalizing the, 12 

Blood, composition of, 114 

Boiling of water, 25, 36 

Bones, composition of, 114 

Bran, nutritive qualities of, 268 

Bread making, principles of, 264, 265, 268 

Breathing, process of, 12, 13 

Broomcorn, cultivation of, 197, 198 

Brush drains, construction of, 139, 140 

Buckwheat family, the, 54 

Buckwheat, culture of, 158, 171 

Bulbs, planting of, 147, 151 

Burning over lands, 132, 135, 137 

Butter, making and qualities of, 260, 261, 262 

Butter packing, 262 

Butter worker, form of the, 261 

Cabbage and its culture, 52, 182, 250 

Calcareous rocks and soils, 75, 76, 79, 88 

Calyx of the tiower, 46 

Canker-worm, protection against the, 224 

Capillary attraction, 17, 42, 133 

Capital, necessity for, 1, 245 

Carbon and carbonates, 14, 60, 65, 102, 103, 105 

Carbonic acid, combinations and action of, . . 11, 15, 20, 39, 59, 90, 128 

Carrots and their culture, 53, 183, 184, 185, 213 

Caseine or cheesy matter in milk, 71, 255, 256, 262, 263 

Cells of the plant, 57 

Cellulose or woody fibre, 67, 208, 254 

Cellar, bottom of the, 119, 258, 259 

Cereals and their culture, 55, 158, 162, 164, 167, 169 

Changes in the atmosphere, 30, 35, 37 

Changes of plants in maturing, 166, 253, 254 

Charcoal or carbon, 15, 60 

Cheese, process of making, 263, 264 

Chemical analysis, . 6, 75 

Chemistry, what it teaches, 6, 75 



INDEX. 297 

Page. 

Chinch-bug destroyed by birds, 230 

Chloride of sodium, .......... 64 

Chlorine, poisonous qualities of, 64 

Chlorophyl, color of plants due to, 71 

Churning, process of, 260 

Citric acid, taste of oranges due to, 65 

Classification of plants, 50 

Clay and clay soils, 41, 78, 79, 87, 145, 154, 159, 193 

CleanUness, importance of, 117, 118 

Clearing, process of, -^ . . . 135, 137, 141 

Climate, influence of, 32, 33 

Clouds, definition of, 37 

Clover and its culture, 52, 87, 188, 189, 192, 193, 211 

Coal the remains of vegetation, . . 60 

Codling-moth, ravages of the, . . o 224, 225 

Cohesion, attraction of, 20 

Color of leaves, 71, 72 

Color of the soil, effect of, 89 

Colza, cultivation of, 69, 206 

Combustible elements, 60 

Combustion due to oxygen, ......... 7 

Composite family of plants, 53 

Composts, formation of, 125, 126, 127, 246, 247 

Conduction of heat, 18 

Copper in the ashes of plants, 65 

Copperas a disinfectant, 102 

Cotyledonous plants, 48, 49 

Crops, protection of, 245, 246 

Cruciferous or cress family, the, 52 

Crust of the earth, formation of the, 74 

Culinary roots, culture of, 177, 180, 182, 187 

Cultivation, benefits of, 56, 57 

Cultivator, use of the, 145, 155 

Curculio, ravages of the, 225 

Currants and their cultivation, 53, 251 

Cut-worm, ravages of the, 222, 246 

Dairy, management of the, 255, 263 

Decay, how produced, 15, 117 

Decomposition, process of, 10, 116, 117 

Deep ploughing, effect of, 40, 131, 132, 143 

Deepening the soil, 142, 143, 157, 184 

Definite proportions, law of, - 9 

Devon cattle, characteristics of the, 233 

DcT/, formation of, .......... • 31, 32 



298 INDEX. 

Page. 

Dicotyledonous plants, 48, 54 

Diseases of plants, 214, 215 

Digging, process of, 130, 144 

Diluvial soils, 89,90 

Disinfectants, the most common, 122 

Diversity of climate, 33, 34 

Drainage, objects and effect of, . . 41, 42, 43, 93, 95, 130, 137, 140, 141 

Drains, construction of, 42, 43, 137, 139, 140 

Drill sowing, advantages of, 155, 162, 1G5, 197 

Drought, mode of guarding against, . . . . .40, 43, 140, 191 

Earth, elements of the, 74,75,96,99 

Eight elements in the soil, 124 

Electricity and its manifestations,- 16, 20, 22, 23, 38 

Elements of plants and soils, 67, 96, 124 

Embryo of the plant, 47, 48 

Endosmose, definition of, 58 

Ergot found in rye and grasses, 168, 215, 221 

Essential elements in the soil and plant, 124, 203 

Evaporation, effect of, 20, 40 

Excess of water in the soil, 40,41,43,137,141 

Exhaustion of the soil, 91,204 

Exosmose, 58 

Expansion by heat, 24 

Fahrenheit's thermometer, 25 

Fallow, object of, 204, 205 

Farm, location of the, 243 

Farm buildings, location of, 243 

Farm stock, management of, 232, 235, 247 

Farming, profits of, 242, 245, 255 

Families of plants, 51 

Feeding, for special purposes, 181, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241 

Feeding, experiments in, 236, 240, 241 

Fences, economy of, 243, 244 

Fermentation, process of, 117 

Fertility of the soil, 90, 91, 160, 247 

Fertihzers, economy of, . . . . 96, 99, 104, 106, 109, 115, 125, 246 

Fibrin in the system, . . 70, 71, 269 

Flax and its culture, 52, 194, 195, 196 

Flesh, composition and uses of, 112 

Flour, variations in quality of, 264, 267, 268 

Flower, organs of the 46 

Fluorine, corrosive power of, 66, 67 

Fogs and clouds, 37 



INDEX. 299 

Page. 

Food, in proportion to weight, 234, 235, 237, 241 

Forage plants, culture of, 56, 188, 190, 193, 247 

Forest, soil of the, 90 

Forest trees, effect of, 95, 98 

Freezing, process of, 25, 37, 81 

Fruit and its culture, 47, 251 

Furrow slice, tui'ning of the, , . 142, 143, 145 

Garden mould, richness of, . 82 

Gases of the air, 6, 8, 11, 18 

Geine or humus, 15 

Genus and its divisions, 51 

Germination of the plant, .... 47, 48, 146, 148, 149, 153, 154 

Geology, objects of, 75 

Glauber's salt, formation of, 63 

Gluten and its composition, 70, 71, 264, 265, 267, 268 

Gneiss, composition of, ... 76 

Gooseberr}', cultivation of the, 253 

Grains, time of harvesting the, ...... 169, 170, 253, 254 

Granite, composition of, 76, 77 

Grapes, time of setting and pruning, 253 

Grasses and their culture, . . # 55, 188, 192, 207 

Grasses, curing of the, 210, 211 

Grasses, time of cutting, 207,208 

Grasses, species of in mixture, 189, 190, 191 

Gravitation, attraction of, 19, 20 

Greenness of leaves, to what due, 71 

Green manures, plants best for, 108, 109, 111 

Greenstone rocks, disintegration of, 75, 76 

Guano, origin and uses of, 122, 180 

Gum, varieties of, 68 

Gypsum or plaster, 15, 96, 102, 117 

Hail, formation of, 38 

Hair, use of as a manure, 113 

Hard water, how to make soft, 102 

Harrow, use of the, 142, 145, 155 

Harvest, time of the, 166, 169, 170, 207, 209, 211, 213 

Hay crop, uses of the, 207,208 

Hay, curing of, 209, 210, 211 

Health, effect of noxious vapors on, 127 

Heat, diffusive nature of, 12, 16, 18, 24, 25, 31 

Hemp, soils adapted to, .... « 196 

Hereford cattle, characteristics of, 234 

Hoar frost, formation of, . . o 32 

26* 



300 



INDEX, 



Hoofs, value of for manure, . 
Hop, varieties and culture of the, 
Horse-hoe, use of the, 
Horses, treatment of, 
Hot-bed, construction of a, 
Humic acid, .... 

Humus, 

Hydrogen, properties of, . 
Hj'grometer, use of, 

Ice, properties and use of. 
Ichneumon-flies attack other insects. 
Implements used on the farm, . 
Indian corn and its culture, 
Indian corn, planting of, . 
Indian corn, selection of seed of, 
Inorganic fertilizers, enumeration of, 
Insects injurious to certain crops, 
Iris family of plants. 
Iron, attraction of oxygen, 
Irrigation, uses of, . 

Jelly of vegetables, . 

Jersey cattle, characteristics of, 

Kaolin, or porcelain clay. 
Kelp, manuring properties of, . 
Kohl-rabi, culture of. 

Lands, preparation of. 

Latent heat in water. 

Law of nature. 

Leached ashes, value of, . 

Leaf, structure and functions of the 

Leaves, as fertilizers. 

Leguminous plants, cultivation of. 

Lentil, soils adapted to the. 

Lichens, growth of, . 

Light, agency of, . 

Light soils, formation of, 

Lime in plants and soil, . 

Limestone rocks and soils, 

Liquid manures, economy of, . 

Litter, best materials for. 

Liquids, ellect of warming, 



55, 158 





Page. 




113 




. 198, 199 




. 162, 163 




183, 238, 239 




248, 249, 250 




. 15, 16 




15, 10, 97, 98 




8 




. 21, 29 




35 




. 222, 223 


. 130 


, 141, 181, 244 


,161 


, 163, 212, 240 


. 155 


, 159, 160, 162 




150, 163 




. 48, 99 


201 


, 222, 225, 229 




54 




7,04 




. 40, 95 




68 




233 




78 




. 63, 110 




182 



134, 141, 155, 158, 161, 165, 178 
35 



104 

46, 71, 146, 147 

111 

. 172, 173, 175 

170 

45, 55, 98, 124 

16, 20, 21, 22, 146 

. 84, 85 

61, 66, 99, 101, 1G5 

75, 79, 88 

, 119,120,204 

119 

19 



INDEX. 301 

Page. 

Loss of manures, 123, 246 

Lucerne, failure of, 193 

Lye, mode of obtaining, 62, 271 

Magnesia, proportion of in wheat, 64, 66 

Manganese in the ashes of plants, 65 

Mangolds, soils adapted to, 182 

Mangolds, harvesting of, 182, 214 

Manures, application and effect of, . . . 107, 152, 159, 178, 181, 184, 246 
Manures, animal and vegetable, .... 96, 99, 112, 114, 115, 118 

Manures, care of, 119, 121 

Manures, mineral, 100, 102, 104, 406, 108 

Marl, effects of, 101 

Marsh mud, use of, , . 88 

Meats, cooking of, « . 269, 270 

Mica found in granite, 91 

Mica slate, structure of, 76 

Michigan plough, operation of the, 144 

Mildew on plants, 215, 216, 217 

Milk, composition and treatment of, ..... 115, 255, 256, 257 

Milk stand, form of the, - 259 

Millet, varieties and culture of, 172 

Mineral elements taken up by plants, 66, 124 

Mineral manures, 99 

Mist in the atmosphere, 37 

Mixed manures, . 115 

Mixture of grasses for mowing and pasturage, . - . 190, 191, 193 

Moisture in the air, . . 16, 24, 29, 37, 141 

Monocotyledonous plants, . . . . . . . . . 49, 54 

Mould, formation of, 15 

Mowing machine, economy of the, 209, 244 

Muck, value of as an absorbent, ....... 125, 127, 246 

Natural families of plants, 50, 51 

Natural formation of soils, . _ . . 80, 81 

"Neutral salts, form in which minerals enter plants, .... 63 

Night, growth of plants in the, ........ 21 

Night shade family, , . , 53 

Nitrates of potash and soda, 106 

Nitric acid, corrosive nature of, 11 

Nitrogen, properties of, 6, 8, 9 

Nitrogen in the soil, 144 

Nitrogenous compounds of plants, 70, 208 

Norfolk rotation, the famous, ......... 206 

Nourishment of plants, . . . , . . o . . , 96 



302 INDEX. 

Page. 

Oak family of plants, 50, 51 

Oats, climate and soils for, 169, 170 

Oats, cultivation of, 169, 170, 254 

Oil of vitriol, formation of, 8 

Onion maggot and fly, 22G 

Open drains, objections to, . . • 137 

Opposite electricities, 74 

Orchis family of plants, 54 

Ores, elements in form of, 74 

Organic manures, division of, 107,108 

Organs of plants, 45, 46, 47 

Original types, modification of, 150, 151 

Osiers, cultivation of, 196, 197 

Osmotic action, 18, 58, 72 

Ox and horse labor, 238 

Oxalic acid in sorrel, 66 

Oxidation or rusting, 7 

Oxides, how formed, .......... 7 

Oxj'gen, action of, 90 

Oyster-shells, value of, 101 

Parsnips, deep ploughing for, 143, 186, 214 

Pasturage, mixture of grasses for, 135, 189, 190, 191 

Pea culture and varieties of the, 175, 176 

Pea weevil, remedy against the, 176 

Pears, time to gather, 252 

Peat, mode of using, 125, 126 

Petal of the flower, 46 

Phenomena of the atmosphere, 31 

Phosphate of lime, 61 

Phosphates in plants, 65 

Phosphorus, appearance of, 61 

Pine family of plants, . 54 

Plaster of Paris, 15, 96, 102, 117 

Planting, depth of, 154, 162 

Planting, time of, 153, 162 

Planting trees, effect on climate of, 95 

Plant lice on Avheat, - 231 

Plants, absorption and exhalation of, 40, 140 

Plants, development of, 50, 147, 177, 213 

Plants, origin of, .... ' 147, 149, 150 

Plough, use of the, 142, 155, 159, 162 

Plough the subsoil, 143, 144 

Ploughing, operation of, 130, 131, 132, 143, 144, 159, 184 

Plumule of the plant, 48, 49 



INDEX. 303 

Page. 

Poisonous gases, 127, 128, 129 

Pollen of the flower, 46, 47 

Porphyry, hardness of, , . , 76 

Potato, the wild, 56 

Potato, mode of raising the, 177, 178, 179, 213 

Potash in ashes, 15, 62 

Potash plants, 66 

Poultry, profits of, 242 

Protean substances, 70 

Prunmg, best time for, 221, 251, 252, 253 

Pudding stone rocks, 76 

Purifiers, use of, 122 

Quality of manures, - 118 

Quartz, composition of, 91 

Quicklime, action of, 100 

Eadiation of heat, 19, 31 

Pain, cause of, 37, 38 

Easpberry, cultivation of the, 252 

Reaper, use of the, 212 

Kemedy for exhaustion, 97 

Rennet, preparation of, 263 

Richest soils contain all ingredients, 84 

Rocks, decomposition of, 124 

Rockweed as a manure, 110 

Roller, use of the, 145, 146, 155, 170, 192 

Root of the plant, 44, 157 

Roots, culture of, as preparation of land, 166 

Rotation of manures, 207 

Rotation, principles of, 200, 201 

Rotation, the Norfolk, 206 

Rush family of plants, 54 

Rye, varieties and uses of, 167, 168, 212, 268 

Sago palm, starch in the, 68 

Salt as a fertilizer, 107,108 

Saltpetre, importance of, in agriculture, 15 

Salts, union with acids, 14, 15, 63 

Sandstone, composition of, 77 

Sandy soils, origin of, 77, 84, 85, 86 

Sap, changes of, , 46 

Sowing, time of, 201, 202 

Sea plants, manuring qualities of, 110 

Seed-bed, preparation of the, 156, 157, 192, 199 



304 INDEX. 

Page. 

Seed, fertility of the, 47 

Seed, depth of covering, 192 

Seed, quantity of, 152, 166, 167, 170, 181 

Seed, selection of, 147, 149, 150, 151, 163, 190 

Seed sower, use of the, 154,155,165,169,197 

Seeds, change of, 149, 150 

Seeds, choice of, 147, 149, 150, 151, 163, 190 

Seeds, germination of, 145, 147, 148, 153 

Seeds, steeping of, 153, 161, 182, 184. 218 

Seeds, vitality of, 149, 184 

Seven fold rotation, 201, 202 

Sheep, breeds of, 2-39, 240, 241 

Sheep, feeding and management of, 18, 240, 241 

Sheep, feeding of turnips to, 181 

Shell lime from the oyster, 101 

Short-horn cattle, characteristics of, 233 

Shrubs, characteristics of, 55 

Sienite, composition of, 76 

Signs of rain, 28,29 

Silex in the straw of grains, ......... 62 

Silica plants, why so called, ......... 66 

Silicious soils and rocks, 75 

Simplest plant, power of the, 57 

Smut in plants, cure for, . 217,218 

Snow, protection afforded by, 38 

Soap, manufacture and cleansing properties of, ... . 62, 271, 272 

Soda found in ashes of sea plants, 63 

Soil, absorptive power of the, 41 

Soil, fertility of the, 90, 91, 152 

Soil, best quality of, 84 

Soil, mechanical condition of the, .... 134,140, 141, 143, 145, 164 

Soil, moisture in the, 137, 141, 153 

Soil, nitrogen in the, 144 

Soil, temperature of the, 141, 144 

Soot as a manure, 105 

Sowing, early and late, 153, 157, 171, 176 

Sowing, modes of, 154, 165, 169 

Sowing, thin and thick, 152, 156, 166, 172 

Spade, use of the, 142 

Species, division of genera into, 51 

Springs, sources of, 39 

Sprout, bursting of the, 48 

Squash bugs, destruction of, 226 

Starch, peculiarities of, 67, 68 

Stable, cleanliness of the, .. o ..... 13, 117, 118 



INDEX. 305 

Page. 

Stem of the plant, 45, 49 

Stock, object of keeping, 232, 233, 235, 247 

Stock, breeds of, 232, 233 

Stock, loss in slaughtering, 238 

Stooking of corn, 163, 164 

Stones, removal of, 136, 145, 248 

Stone drains, mode of laying, 138, 139 

Strawberry, culture of the, 252 

Streams, origin of, 39 

Structure of the earth, 74 

Stumps, removal of, 135, 136 

Subsoil ploughing, 133, 143, 144 

Subsoil, influence of, on vegetation, 92, 93, 143 

Substitutes for stable manure, 124, 125 

Sulphate of potash and soda, 102 

Sugar, characteristics of, 69 

Sulphuretted hydrogen, oiTensive odor of, 12, 113, 127 

Sulphur, common, in vegetables, 8, 61, 102 

Sulphuric acid in plants, 8, 63, 65, 102 

Sun, light of the, 17, 20, 22 

Super-phosphate of lime, 106 

Swamps, soil of, 86, 88 

Swedes, preparation of laud for, 180 

Swine, food for, 241 

Tannin, where found, 72 

Temperature of the air, 24, 25, 30 

Temperature of cream, 260 

Temperature of stables, 239 

Temperature of the dairy room, 257, 258, 260 

Temperature of the soil, 141, 153, 154 

Thermometer, construction of the, 24, 25 

Thunder storms, cause of, 38 

Tile drains, 138, 139 

Tillage, effect of, 132, 133 

Tobacco, cultivation of, 199 

Tool-room, importance of a, 245 

Trap rock, composition of, 76 

Transplanting, advantages of, 156, 157, 253 

Trees, organs of, 49 

Trees, pruning of, 221, 251, 252 

Trees, transplanting of, 156, 157, 253 

Trees, trunks of, 49 

Tubers, planting of, 147, 177, 213 

Turnip, climate and soil adapted to the, 179, 180 



306 INDEX. 

Page. 

Turnip, cultivation of the, 180, 181 

Turnip, varieties of the, 180, 181 

Underdrains, construction of, 138 

Undershrubs, what they are, 55 

Unleached ashes, value of as a manure, 104 

Vapor in the air, ■ . 6, 7, 36 

Varieties, obtaining new, 150, 151 

Variations in temperature, 30 

Vegetable jelly, 67,68 

Vegetable life, 20 

Vegetable manures, 108, 110, 111 

Vegetable oils, peculiarity of, 69 

Ventilation, necessity of, 12, 13 

Vetch sown with oats, 177 

Vinous fermentation, 117 

Warm soils, dryness of, 89 

Water, absorptive power of, 39 

Water, effect of on soil, 137, 141 

Water, removal of, 117, 139, 141 

Water, three forms of, 35, 36 

Wastes of the farm, 245, 246, 248, 253 

Watering the manure heap, 116, 119 

Wax on plants, 69 

Weather, changes of the, 24, 28, 29 

Weathering, process of, 81 

Weight of the air, 8,26 

Weeds, use of as a manure, 204 

Wet lands, coldness of, 89 

Wheat, composition of, . ' . -71, 264, 267 

Wheat, cultivation of, 165, 166, 212, 216, 253 

Wheat, soils for, 164, 216 

Wheat sown in drills, 155, 165, 166 

Wheat, varieties of, 164, 216 

Wheat midge, injury by the, 227 

Willows and their culture, 54, 196, 197 

Wind, indications of the, 6, 28, 30 

Yeast, effect of, 266 

Young stock, management of, 234, 235, 247 



i477 4 



i 



